Farewell To Max

Yesterday afternoon was clouded with sadness. Suzie's bunny, Max passed away. Angel (sil) got each of the girls a bunny last year. They were such cute fluffy balls of fur. Suzie adored her little "Maxie".... the girls named their bunnies after Max and Ruby- their favorite show at the time...

Although Max had grown much bigger, Suzie still liked to pick him up and kiss him. And poor Max, he was a good sport and put up with all Suzie's squeezing good lovin.

Yesterday around 5:00, Chuck took a scoop of food out to the bunnies. He came back up to the house and said he was going to have to put Max down. "Why?" I asked. And Chuck explained his condition... stretched out on the ground, heavy breathing and it looked as though his insides were coming out his rear...

The girls over heard us talking and wanted to go see for themselves. I walked the girls over to the pen, not sure what to expect... with Max or the girls reaction... Poor Max was laying there with flies all around him and having visible trouble breathing.

Gracie noticed the 'gunk' by his tail area and asked about it. Not really sure how to explain it to her, I made my answer as simple and vague as possible. But Gracie and Suzie wanted better answers than I was giving and kept asking questions. In more of a suggestion than an answer I said, "I don't know why that stuff is coming out. Maybe he got cut on the fence or something"

This answer satisfied Gracie but now Suzie was peppering me with questions. Trying to draw her away from the situation, "Common, lets go meet Rick and Angel for dinner"... that's where we were headed when all this started... I started to walk away hoping the girls would follow me. Suzie burst into tears and chased after me, "Why is Max sick, Mommy? I don't want him to be sick" My heart broke in two as I gathered Suze up in my arms, "Shhhh, baby. It'll be ok"

Chuck and I got the girls in the truck and started on our way. Suzie quieted down but Gracie kept discussing why Max was sick. I told her to hush several times, not wanting the conversation to get Suzie all upset again. Fortunately Suzie was over the inital shock and her mood had improved.

We got back from dinner around 7:30ish. Suzie was her chipper self, but hadn't forgotten about Max. The girls were going to spend the night with Angel so I got their stuff together and called for them to get in the van... Chuck's intentions were to put Max out of his misery after we left...

The girls started for the van but Gracie turned toward the yard, "I want to go check on Max first." And of course little miss copy cat, Suzie, had to follow. Gracie reached the pen first and immediately knew. "He died, Mommy" she hollered out to me. I sighed heavy at her words and looked over at Suze, waiting for her reaction. "No he's not" Suzie yelled. But once she reached the pen she knew too. "Yep. He died" Suzie confirmed.

I looked toward the house to see where Chuck was. He'd heard the girls comments and was coming from the garage with a shovel in hand. I turned my attention back to the girls, "Blow him a kiss good bye Suzie." Suzie kissed her fingertips then tilted her hand toward Max and blew, "I'll miss you Max"

Chuck was next to the pen and started digging a deep hole. The girls attention turned form the bunnies to the hole Daddy was digging, "Why are you digging it so deep?" they questioned. Stabbing the ground with the shovel and spooning up the dirt, "So nothing digs him up"... the 'nothing' being Cricket, Im sure...

The girls watched Daddy dig while talking about Jesus taking care of Max now. Chuck laid the shovel to the side and reached in the pen for Max... who was already stiff as a board... and laid him in the grave. Gracie and Suzie told him 'good bye' and Chuck covered him up. I was surprised (and relieved) to see how well the girls were dealing with all this.

Max being officially laid to rest, the girls were now ready to go to Nannie's (Angels). On the ride over, the girls asked if they could call Josh and Caleb and tell them all the news. Gracie was upset that I handed my phone to Suzie and not her. "Max was Suzie's bunny" I explained "she gets to tell Josh and Caleb" Gracie pouted with a heavy sigh as she listened to Suzie tell Josh the 'story'.

Surviving the brief mourning period, all seems to be well.

Angel already had plans to take the kids to the State Fair today... she is watching the girls since Chuck and I are both working... and the funny thing is, I told her she could borrow my van to take them as long as she didn't bring home some animal with Suzie. Now, after this Max mishap, I'm not so sure what to expect. If Suzie gets upset seeing the bunnies at the fair, Nannie just might bring Suze home with another addition to our family.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see...