Last night, Jennifer and Jonathan were hit with the news that their dog (at Daddy's house) died. Rocky first came to live with us when Jonathan was just 2 years old. He was a great dog and a family member that will be missed greatly.
Today, we learned that another dog we owned died during the night also. Princess was the dog that I purchased with the kids after their dad and I divorced. Princess had recently gone to live with another family member due to her desire to be an only pet. She just didn't get along with other dogs.
With losing two pets within the day, the children were both not sure what to think. Jennifer's only experience with losing a pet was just over a week ago when her favorite dog at Grandma's house passed away. Jennifer and I were at my parents' when they buried Blanca.
Explaining to her what it means to have a pet die was not easy. She thought that the dogs were just sleeping. She told me over and over that Rocky was "real fine" and that he would wake up. She didn't actually understand until she walked into her dad's house this afternoon and saw that Rocky was not there. As Daddy explained to her what happened, she began to cry.
I'm not so glad that this is a lesson she had to learn. I would just assume that Jennifer be protected from all the bad in the world. But John and I always said that we would tell our kids the truth. Some truths are just easier to tell them than others.
I want to add a positive note...I'm very sad that we have lost these pets and that the kids had to go through all of this. I do have to rejoice in the fact that our little girl was able to comprehend what happened. This is just another way God has used bad and turned it into good!
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