Sad News

I went to let our pet rabbit, Frodo out this morning and got no response, he is getting older and takes his time to come out but this morning there was no movement at all, he must of passed away in his sleep last night. We are all upset but L is absolutely devastated, she loved Frodo and was forever collecting dandelion leaves on our walk for him. All the children used to love to go out into the garden and chat with him, find him leaves etc, so have messaged all the parents to let them know what has happened. This is the first time in over twenty years that we do not have any pets, when we moved in here we had 5 cats, fostered kittens, later added rabbits, chickens and a rat, so the house feels very empty tonight. Though we do talk about death and dying, it is a whole other thing when it is your beloved pet, so for L this is really the first time she has had to deal with it. We have had lots of questions of why did he have to die, can't I make him breath again, wake up again, in the stories people die and come back to life again, so had to talk about most of the times these stories someone has cursed them or poisoned them and they are asleep, waiting for someone to magic them awake, this is real life and it doesn't work that way. In between this she has been asking if we would get more rabbits and a kitten and then more tears. This afternoon we went for a walk and L collected lots of dandelion flowers, I suggested we could use them to paint with and make flower pictures of the type of garden Frodo would like, he did like to eat my flowers! So we did manage to have a lovely time painting lots of pictures for him, in rabbit heaven. Tonight we buried him in what will eventually become our secret flower garden and she has chosen a lavender and rosemary bush to planted there. This is the very sunny spot at the bottom of the garden that used to house our chickens. After she went to bed my husband commented on a book that we have Always and Forever and how in the end even though Hare's friends are sad that he is gone, they remember the good times and build a garden to remember him by, one to find out and read to her in a couple of days, as I think it will help.