The Passing of a Legend

Another great one has fallen.

I came home today surprised to see Trevor sitting outside the back door balling, sobbing, moaning and wailing. My first reaction was to ask, with great concern, "What happened to you Trev?" His response, "Oreo died". Actually it was more like, "OREO DIIIEEEEEED!". My next question, (probably much like yours now) was, "WHO'S OREO?". Bad question. Oreo happens (or happened) to be the rabbit that lived in the next door at the Christopherson's in our joint backyard. As I moved around the yard, the scene with the rest of the kids seemed to be the same, balling, moaning and wailing. I had no idea that Oreo the rabbit had such a profound impact, nevertheless, not wanting to make light of others pain, I attended the graveside service for Oreo to support all the kids.

Here's the backyard memorial/grave stone


It was difficult to hear much of what was said due to the loud crying by all the kids in attendance, but I did catch a few phrases like, "HE WAS JUST A BABY" and "WHY OH WHY". I worked hard to keep myself from smiling.

Trevor felt like expressing his grief with a pen (in addition to his loud and visible form)

I then thought of the first animal (actually it was a fish) that I lost and cried over, I think I was 7 or 8 years old. I don't remember the goldfishes name (shows how much it really meant to me). I asked Jennifer if she ever cried when a family pet died. Her response, with an incredulous look was, "why would I cry?". I was glad when I realized that I wasn't the only insensitive one in the family.