One Last Post On Death
Posted on November 24, 2008 - Filed Under Kids, Personal | 3 Comments
I promise, I`ll return to happier things after this post. 
And actually, this one isn`t so depressing. I just got to thinking about death and animals and seeing my kids finding out first hand about it reminded me of when I was little.
We didn`t quite have a farm when I was Dorian`s age, but we did have a TON of goats. Well, it seemed like a lot to me. 
They were big for me and one billy goat was always knocking me down, which really pissed me off!
Unfortunately, we had a few losses one year . . . all the babies kept dying and it turned out that there was a selenium deficiency in the grass around our home. As soon as my parents were able to figure it out, they just gave the goats a supplement and all was fine. However, in that brief span, a lot of babies were stillborn and some died shortly after birth (no, I don`t remember ALL of this, my parents filled in the missing pieces later). One particular baby survived a few days and I fell in love with him, but, like the rest, he was too weak to survive and he died.
My parents worried that this would really upset me, but I was a Bible-raised child and had a solution. I named the baby goat Lazarus and stood there by the goat shed door and said, “Lazarus, come forth!” Well, that baby goat didn`t move an inch. Of course not . . . Lazarus in the Bible had been dead for 3 days before Jesus raised him from the dead . . . so I told Mom and Dad that we had to wait. And they did. They left Lazarus in there for three days (I hope it wasn`t dead summer!) and then I went back to the shed and commanded very firmly, “LAZARUS, COME FORTH!”
My dad later told me that he almost expected the baby goat to get up and walk out, my faith was so strong! It didn`t though, but that didn`t seem to shake my faith. According to my parents, I just said, “huh.” And went off to play.
Last night, I felt bad for having let Dante see Tasha like that, but at the same time, I don`t think hiding all the ugly things in the world is the best idea. They`re going to have to face these things at some point and while I can certainly protect them for a while, things like death have an awful way of sneaking up on you.
To end on a funny note, this morning, I was laying on the living room floor, napping while the boys were playing. Dante came over and looked down at me and said, “oh, owie.” Dorian came over and said, “Oh, Mama, you have owie, right here! It hurts?” Apparently I have something on my forehead. A zit no doubt. I just said, “no”. And closed my eyes again. I heard Dorian running into the bedroom . . .
“PAPA! She`s dead!”
“What? Who died? Tasha?”
“NO. Mama. She`s dead with an owie on her HEAD.”
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3 Responses to “One Last Post On Death”
Talk to Me, People!
Oh my! Kids just have the best imaginations! Lazarus! That was very clever!
Our kids had a scare with our little cat last June. He got sick so bad that several teeth fell out and he turned very bony. He’s old too. They prayed and cried over him and he survived (I was very glad, but very surprised). Now, just the thought of that can bring tears back to them. It’s sad, but it’s beautiful to see the intensity of love a child can have for their companion animals.
Death does sneak up on us, as much as we try to ignore it, it always gets us like a thump in the chest. I never used to really feel bad about roadkill, I mean I thought it was sad and all, but after falling in love with our schnauzers, if I see a smushed cat or dog on the side of the road, I just lose it. I imagine how the kids will feel when they get home from school or wake up in the morning. I wish we could keep death from them…
Oh, I am so sorry. Tasha was such a beautiful little pup. Sending a hug!
Kimmie
mama to 6
one homemade and 5 adopted