William 8/31-9/21

It was a sad day in our house Saturday morn. YS came and got me, crying one of those cries that no mother ever wants to hear. It tears your heart out. William was dead.
William was the guinea pig that OS bought YS for his birthday. YS did everything right. He took care of him like a new born baby. He even read to him every night so he’d grow up and be a “smart pig”. DH and I were in awe of this little creature who could turn an otherwise wound up tight 9 year old boy into a gentle caretaker.
We’re not sure why they little guy passed and that made it even harder to explain to YS, who was absolutely inconsolable. He did everything right. Why did it happen? Gosh damn, I can’t harder write about it without tearing up. How do you explain death, the unfairness of it to a 9 year old?
Of course practically the first thing out of my mouth after “it wasn’t your fault” was “we’ll get another one”. What the hell was I thinking? That I want to go through this time and time again? That you can replace the love for one by replacing it with another? No I wasn’t. I just wanted the pain to go away. Plain and simple.
So I called OS because YS wanted him to accompany us on our new search. He was kind enough to come over and off we went. One store didn’t have any, the second store had a couple but they were older. They told us that because the animal was so small (and he was) that he probably wasn’t weaned or hadn’t been weaned long and the shock could’ve to his system might have been the cause. But 3 weeks? I’m not sure. I wondered about vitamin C, and then dismissed it after talking to the store and reading up on it. I do wonder about the celery though. It had to be small bites since the strings are hard for them to digest. I sure thought they were small enough but who knows. We went to another store and found “Rascal”. Rascal is all white and just the most playful little cute pig. He’s small too so we’re being really careful about food with him. Just pellets for now and we’ll go even slower trying new vegetables and fruit.
Later that day, DD took YS to the circus and out for dinner. DH and I went out for dinner ourselves and then the races out at the speedway. We stayed until my back and big old butt couldn’t take the seats anymore. It was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed being out together. We laughed and talked like teenagers again. Two burials in one day take it out of you I guess. Wow! Here I went on about the guinea pig and my poor DH had to bury him and then go to his aunt’s funeral. She passed in her sleep with her family around. He wasn’t necessarily close to his aunt but close enough that it hit home and you look at your own mortality. So the evening out was sorely needed by all of us. DD brought along a friend of hers and her niece who happens to be the same age as YS. She brought home some pretty good stories. Maybe later on the week I’ll get them posted.
I finished up all of the painting I had to do in the bedrooms. I’M DONE PAINTING!!!
DH is finishing up the painting of the doors/closet doors with his nifty little spray gun, But, I’m DONE!!!! Did I mention that already!?!
Now, the fun really begins – I get to go carpet shopping!!!!!! Man, that was a fast weekend.