A Sad Day.

We lost a member of our family last week. Our faithful dog Scout left our yard and got hit by a car. We had Scout for about 6 years, we adopted him when he was 1 year old. Before Scout we had a yellow lab named Buddy who was 14 when we had to make the choice to put him to sleep. Having been through both, I'm not sure which is worse. This was Linden's first personal account with death. I knew she at least sort of knew the concept because one time at Meijer she saw a fish in the tank floating and she said "he's dead". Before that I didn't even know she knew the word. After we found Scout I brought Linden home and explained what happened to her, she watched Matt dig the hole, and she put the ball and collar in the hole with Scout. During and since we've had some interesting exchanges with Linden about Scout. I thought I'd share them with you.

Mom: Linden, Scout died and is in heaven now.

Linden: Oh

Mom: Do you understand what that means? We don't have him anymore.

Linden: Oh, are you sad?

Mom: Yes

Linden: Oh

About 10 minutes later the cat walks into the room

Linden: We only have a car now!

As Matt is digging

Matt: Linden why don't you go find the ball for Scout.

Linden: HE's DEAD!

(I'm sure she was just really confused as to why Scout would need the ball)

A couple days later:

Linden: Scout got hit by a car, he died and he's in heaven.

Mom: Do you miss Scout?

Linden: No.

The next day:

Linden crying at the dinner table says "I miss Scout"

Mom: I'm sorry, I miss Scout too.

Linden: We need to get a new dog, a Buddy dog.

(I'm not sure where that came from, she has only seen Buddy in pictures, but she sure knows how to play her Mom, I would have went out right then and got her a Buddy dog, if she'd kept it up)

Randomly a few days later:

Linden: My Buddy dog is going to play with Scouts old toys.

People have asked me if Linden is sad about Scout, and to tell the truth I'm just not quite sure. I think she gets that we don't have him anymore, but I don't think she quite gets the reality of the situation. Needless to say I think we have no choice but to get a Buddy dog for our next pet.