Wednesday, September 17, 2008

R.I.P. Harvey the hampster

I had something a lot more fun to blog about today, but instead I have sad news to report. Harvey the hampster died this evening. I know he was just a hampster, but he was a member of the family, so we're all a little sad.

Josh always goes in to say goodnight to Harvey before he goes to bed and tonight he went in there and came running in to tell us that Harvey looked dead. Shawn went into check, and sure enough, he was laying on his side in the middle of his cage. I'm so sad that Josh had to be the one to find him. Josh is just as tender hearted as I am when it comes to animals and this is the first time we've ever had to go through the death of a pet with our kids. I'm sad that Harvey died, but not nearly as sad as I am to see how hard Josh is taking it. Poor kid. We sat and had a good cry together and we finally got him off to bed. Tomorrow we're going to have a little funeral in the backyard.

When Shawn's mom died a few years ago, his boss asked Shawn if he could buy a tree for our yard in memory of Shawn's mom, which we were so touched by. Shawn's mom loved lilacs, so we told him we'd like a lilac bush. We planted it in our backyard, and when it bloomed we were amazed to see that it's growing in the shape of a heart! Every spring we have a beautiful lilac bush in our backyard that always blooms in a heart shape and it always reminds us of those we've lost. Tomorrow we'll go bury Harvey under the lilac bush, and every spring when the lilac blooms we'll be reminded of what a sweet little pet he was.

So say an extra prayer for Josh tonight. Seeing him so sad just breaks my heart.

Tomorrow I have all sorts of fun things to talk about, but for tonight I'll leave you with a few photos of our buddy Harvey.




3 comments:

Jeni said...

Aww sorry for your loss. Our bunny passed recently and our odd took it pretty hard so I can relate. :(

Jenn said...

Aww I'm so sorry that you lost Harvey :( Poor Josh. Losing a pet is so hard, no matter how big or small, they're always part of your family. I remember when my hamster Woollie died, I was heart broken. And I was 18 LOL What sweet idea with the lilac bush!

J said...

Awww so sorry about Harvey. He was a handsome little hampster. This was such a sweet post...you even made me tear up.