I thought it was time for a real profile picture just in case anyone forgot what I actually look like.
I went down to my sisters house for a big birthday party for my brother, my niece and my brother in law.
I had an unusual conversation with my 5-year-old niece on the subject of death. My sister Gail had to put one of her dogs to sleep last week. Duke was almost 15 years old and his liver started failing. He was the sweetest little dog and they hated to do it but he was in pain and it was the right thing to do.
They got a new puppy a few days ago named Danny. Hes a border collie/golden lab mix. When my niece Abby got there she asked my sister where their other puppy was? My sister told her that Duke got sick and that he went to heaven to be with Jesus. Which lead to a whole other set of questions like, what did you do with him, do you miss him and if hes with Jesus now, that means hell be ok right. We tried to explain it to her in a way that she would understand, which is really hard to do.
Later in the day after lunch, she came over and got into my lap and asked me if she could go down by the river. My sister has a river that runs behind their house. I told her that she couldnt go down there by herself but I would take her if she wanted to. She thought about it for a minute and asked me if the reason she couldnt go by herself was because it was dangerous and she might fall in. Then she asked me if she fell in if I would jump in and save her. That then spun off into another set of questions along the lines of what if I couldnt save her and what if I need someone to save me.
We talked for a while she let it drop after a butterfly landed near us, and then she was off following the butterfly. She didnt bring it up again, but she also didnt ask me to take her down to the river. She spent the rest of the day running around and playing and didnt seem to give it another thought. I got to tell you, that little girl asked some tough questions.
At one point my 2-year-old niece came up to me and tugged on my hand. When I looked down, her face was smeared in chocolate frosting from her cup cake. It looked like she took the cup cake and ran it all over her face. Shes looking up at with a huge smile and her arms up in the air for me to pick her up, she said hug, so I picked her up. She hugged me and gave me a kiss, leaving me with a chocolate face as well, and then said down and was off to play. Every now and then she would come running at me full tilt and through herself at me for a hug and then head off to do something else.
She discovered something yesterday that to watch her play with it was the greatest thing she had ever seen, bubble wrap. I took her a few minutes to get one to pop, but once she did she was heaven. She would pop one and just start laughing and jumping up and down. She ran around with it and show people that she could pop it on her own this look on her face like she had never dreamed there was something so cool as this.
My brother and I actually spent most of the day talking to each other. Since my mom died theres been a gap growing between us. It was nice to spend time with him like we used to do.
And for no particular reason, I pic of my cat Kira crocked off her ass on catnip.
Shit, I just realized that I for got to pick up a Chicago Tribune. I have to go back out. Why didn't you remind me earler?
I went down to my sisters house for a big birthday party for my brother, my niece and my brother in law.
I had an unusual conversation with my 5-year-old niece on the subject of death. My sister Gail had to put one of her dogs to sleep last week. Duke was almost 15 years old and his liver started failing. He was the sweetest little dog and they hated to do it but he was in pain and it was the right thing to do.
They got a new puppy a few days ago named Danny. Hes a border collie/golden lab mix. When my niece Abby got there she asked my sister where their other puppy was? My sister told her that Duke got sick and that he went to heaven to be with Jesus. Which lead to a whole other set of questions like, what did you do with him, do you miss him and if hes with Jesus now, that means hell be ok right. We tried to explain it to her in a way that she would understand, which is really hard to do.
Later in the day after lunch, she came over and got into my lap and asked me if she could go down by the river. My sister has a river that runs behind their house. I told her that she couldnt go down there by herself but I would take her if she wanted to. She thought about it for a minute and asked me if the reason she couldnt go by herself was because it was dangerous and she might fall in. Then she asked me if she fell in if I would jump in and save her. That then spun off into another set of questions along the lines of what if I couldnt save her and what if I need someone to save me.
We talked for a while she let it drop after a butterfly landed near us, and then she was off following the butterfly. She didnt bring it up again, but she also didnt ask me to take her down to the river. She spent the rest of the day running around and playing and didnt seem to give it another thought. I got to tell you, that little girl asked some tough questions.
At one point my 2-year-old niece came up to me and tugged on my hand. When I looked down, her face was smeared in chocolate frosting from her cup cake. It looked like she took the cup cake and ran it all over her face. Shes looking up at with a huge smile and her arms up in the air for me to pick her up, she said hug, so I picked her up. She hugged me and gave me a kiss, leaving me with a chocolate face as well, and then said down and was off to play. Every now and then she would come running at me full tilt and through herself at me for a hug and then head off to do something else.
She discovered something yesterday that to watch her play with it was the greatest thing she had ever seen, bubble wrap. I took her a few minutes to get one to pop, but once she did she was heaven. She would pop one and just start laughing and jumping up and down. She ran around with it and show people that she could pop it on her own this look on her face like she had never dreamed there was something so cool as this.
My brother and I actually spent most of the day talking to each other. Since my mom died theres been a gap growing between us. It was nice to spend time with him like we used to do.
And for no particular reason, I pic of my cat Kira crocked off her ass on catnip.
Shit, I just realized that I for got to pick up a Chicago Tribune. I have to go back out. Why didn't you remind me earler?
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If you want to ride up north with me you can. We will have to leave Sunday morning because I have to work Sunday night and I will need to take a nap. but I am thinking that leaving early Friday will be the best time.