Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Scarred for Life

Reposted from May 20, 2008
Dusty died.

Well, okay, but who is Dusty?

Our neighbors dog.

Remember I am not an animal person, so Dusty has been the closest thing to a pet that my children have had (besides those fish that live in Ben's room and refuse to die even though we never remember to feed them or clean their tank).

Dusty was a sweet dog. Ron and Sue had Dusty for 14 years and in the four years that we have lived behind them my kids had come to love him. He was patient and gentle and even shared his water bowl with Cooper once.


Over the past year Dusty's health has been rapidly declining and on Sunday he had a stroke. Ron and Sue took him into the Emergency Vet Hospital and determined that it would be best to have Dusty put to sleep. Sunday afternoon we were all outside when Sue pulled me aside to tell me about Dusty. She and Ron were understandably very upset about the loss of their sweet dog and she asked that I please tell my boys.

So I did. And they were sad, but seemed to process it well. We talked about how Dusty was very old and had gotten very sick before he died and that Mr. Ron and Ms. Sue took him to a dog doctor and that is where he died.

Great job, Trish. You covered your kids first pet death experience very well.

Why thank you very much.............

but not really.

Monday morning after getting Ben on the bus, Coop and I are making the five minute drive to the fabulous Miss Jeanie's house and the conversation went like this:

Coop: "Mom, will Dusty be back from the dog doctor today?"

Me: "No, buddy. Remember Dusty died. He is not coming back from the dog doctor."

Coop: "Oh. Mom, what will the dog doctor do with Dusty?"

Me: "the dog doctor will just get rid of him by burning his body."

HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just told my four year old what really happens to dead pets..........

HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How stupid am I............did I forget that I was talking to a four year old?

HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am supposed to tell him something nice bout how dogs go to heaven and all that sweet stuff.........


HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What were you thinking Trish? Now what are you going to do..........

Oh good, we're pulling into Jeanies, maybe YOUR FOUR YEAR OLD WILL FORGET ALL ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST TOLD HIM!

Knock, knock on Miss Jeanies door.

Miss Jeanie opens door.

Coop: "Miss Jeanie, Dusty died and my mom told me that the doctor is going to burn his body"

Miss Jeanie (with stunned and bewildered look on her face): "What?!?"

Me (stammering because I feel like the worst mother in the world): "Dusty was our neighbors dog and yes I just told my four year old what really happens to dead pets and now I am late to work can you take care of that for me i don't care what you tell him cuz anything is better than what I just told him thanks and goodbye."

Daycare.

It's practically the same as therapy. Right?

16 comments:

Debbie said...

Oh my gosh, that is priceless. I mean that was just really really funny to read. YOu are back and better than ever my friend!

Valerie said...

Great story Trish. Very funny. It's great that you can laugh at yourself. Thanks for sharing.

Sure you can link me. Hope you enjoy the book this summer.

Gina said...

HOLY COW! That was right up there with Heather's tick story. I don't know if you read her or not, but you can get to her from me or Debbie. Mindless Junque.
Yeah, daycare is almost as good as therapy. When he starts yelling out in his sleep, "NO! DON'T BURN DUSTY!!!" then you know you have a problem. Sleep well tonight!!!!

The Aldridge's said...

Thanks for the laugh Trish!!

C

meleea said...

that was hilarious! don't worry he won't be to scarred. aren't all of our kids going to end up in therapy anyway?!?!

Tawnya P. said...

Too funny!!! Thanks for the laugh!

Lee Ann said...

Don't we teach them it's always best to tell the truth? :-)

Annette said...

yes, lee ann, and this time it's not (the) cold and hard (truth), its incinerated and, well, dusty? (technically, ashy)... poor Ron and Sue... how are the boys handling it now?

Lula! said...

Huh-larious. RIP Dusty.

Lula! said...

Huh-larious. RIP Dusty.

Emily said...

Poor poor Dusty. Poor poor you. Sometimes it's just hard to come up with the right way of explaining things to kids...

Emily said...

Oops, Sorry I have not been a good bloggin' friend lately!

Elena said...

LOL! Poor kid, he'll be traumatized for life. LOL! Oh well, I believe it's always best to tell them the truth, even if does require therapy afterwards. Rest in peace Dusty.

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

Trish - that is the funniest thing ever. Should we all pitch in to help with that Therapy. Don't worry - my 5 year old just witnessed my brother's dog "lumping" our goat - yep, and I am not ready to have a sex talk about that one, but I got a picture and want to post it so much. It may be just too edgy but has brought the most amount of laughter over the last bit.....
blessings in '09.

Jackie said...

The truth is always better, and that WAS a very funny story. We live on a farm and animal death is a part of life, lol. They work it out; the kids that is, not the animals, lol. As for Dusty...may he scatter in peace.

Debbie said...

It's still funny...all these months later...