Pet Cemetery

Any parent who has given in to the plea for a beloved furry companion knows that the shoe box in the photo is more than a mere shoe box. Lined with a scrap of satin (or soft toilet paper in a pinch) stuffed full of Fluffy's favorite toys, maybe a picture of the child or children. Inch per inch, these boxes have more treasured archival material than Tutankhamen's tomb. Oh, and a dead pet. Every family has their methods, and their limits. In my household we bury reptiles and mammals. We'd probably bury a pet bird, but we've never had one. We do not bury potato bugs, ladybugs, or any other insect, though I have never had a three year old beg me to hold services and might cave on that if pressed. Fish do not get a burial. When the kids were younger and fish were precious things to be watched and spoken to daily there were several emergency trips to the pet store to buy replacements, the original unceremoniously flushed. We have gone through six pairs of rats over the years. They really are the best small animal pet, but they succumb to cancer eventually. Yes, all of them, except the last one which was killed by our Jack Russel (who's body will rot in a land fill if my daughter has a say in it...she doesn't) but even that rat had a tumor the size of it's torso. Mercy killing if you ask me. Several reptiles, a few cats, myriad chickens and other farm foul, a hamster... you get the idea. I have stood grave side and said kind words more times than I care to admit. The great thing is that everyone feels better once the earth has been placed over the shoe box. Once honor has been given to the deceased we can quickly move on. Most children learn about mortality in this way. It doesn't take a pronouncement of death for a child to see that their pet is just not present in that small mound of flesh. They see it before you say it, though they still need you to name what it is they have seen. Then, the questions begin. How the questions are answered varies as greatly as the ceremony or lack there of that follows, but death, the greatest of all abstracts, is made very real. That's a good thing. A hard thing, but a good thing.