The Circle of Life

Brooke got a bunny for her 2nd birthday six years ago. Actually, two bunnies to make it easier to share.

The girls named them Snow White and Cinderella;

which then needed to be changed to Snow White and Peter Pan;

which then needed to be changed to Thumper and Peter Pan.

These things aren't that easy to tell on a rabbit, OK?

The bunnies grew and grew and got more mischievous. Peter Pan loved to get dig a hole under the fence and eat our neighbor's flowers. One day, the neighbor had his gate open and Peter Pan, always the adventurous one, had his last adventure (and there was proof of it). We were down to just Thumper, who was much more mellow and calm.

Thumper lived in our backyard and in his cage. He was easy to care for and required very little.

Unfortunately, as Madison and her friend went out to feed him and play with him and found him in his cage not moving.

He lived to be the ripe old age of six.

It was a sad moment in the Merrill house.

He was our very first pet. Christian and Ashlyn don't know a life without him.

Frankly, we were very surprised that he lived that long and he outlived his siblings by years.

We decided to hold a funeral that night during FHE. It was very sweet.

When we got home from swimming that evening, I had the kids hurry and take a shower and put on jammies while I made dinner. They came down dressed all in black. Christian even put on a button-down shirt. They wanted to be dressed for the funeral!

Sometimes kids just do the cutest things.

John dug a hole right where Thumper's cage was on the side yard and we buried him. The kids all took turns putting flowers on him and when it came time to actually burying him is when they broke down.

I took pictures and decided not to post them as there was such a tender display of emotion I felt it disrespectful to post it.

We had a life lesson that day. Our first pet. Death. Saying Good-bye.

The natural circle of life.

They are all doing fine now - they just get a little sad when we forget and almost run out to give him the ends of our celery we just cut, or the tops of our carrots.

Now Madison and Brooke say they want to buy another bunny. They said there are bunnies in the mall for $50 and if they save up, they can buy one.

I think that will be yet another life lesson: we never buy pets from the mall! Geesh!

And I think having Cole is more than plenty for us right now.