All this talk today about Rainbow Bridge made me remember the saga with my nephews when Woody went to the Bridge and then more recently when my Friends Cat made the journey. Even though I was really sad, it did make me smile a little.

When Woody went to the Bridge, my sister explained to my two nephews (5 & 7) that Woody was dead, he had been very poorly and when we had taken him to the Vets they had had to put him to sleep.

"What the vet murdered him" piped up the 5 year old

This was followed by a tirade on what the two were going to do the vet, the are proper little boys so this included things like, locking him in jail, stabbing him with a sword, handcuffing him, making him walk the plank and such like. It took my sister ages to persuade them that the vet was actually a nice man and not a murderer.

Later that week they went out for a meal and there was a Springer in the restaurant, the 7 year old said "oh look that dog looks like Woody" the 5 year old said "Oh no it can't be because Woodys ...... he then did the finger cutting accross the throat move.

They live in Germany so it wasn't until they came over to the UK a few weeks ago that they remembered that Woody wasn't there. I didn't know it but they had been walking with my mum and passed the place where he was scattered and she had obviously tried to explain what cremation was. As I say I didn't know this so when I took them and my friends 6 year old to the cinema and they asked what a furnace was I just said that it was a huge fire, this was followed by "what they burnt Woody" from the 5 year old and then 20 mins of crying from the 6 year old because "we had burnt Woody alive" Needless to say my mum got it in the neck when I got home.

Then last week my friends cat Hero went to the bridge, which was a little sad for me too as there were 5 in the litter, I had 2, then 3 other friends had one each. When Hero went to the bridge it meant that my Ginger is the only one of the litter left, and he is only 14 which is no age for a cat. Anyway her 3 & 6 year olds wanted to be involved in the buriel so they are all there digging the hole, my friend is crying. Then her other cat jumps onto the wall in the next garden, the 3 year old cups his hands round his mouth then shouts at the top of his voice "don't worry Baz - its not for you" It definatly lighted the mood slightly.

That's made me snigger Heather

my best friend and dog walker has two young girls, 2 and 4. The 4 year old loves the dogs, and Kate had to tell her on Monday that Jasper was no more. She cried buckets and made me a model of a dog with long ears called Jasper.

Anyway, when I was out with the girls on tuesday, so stillvery raw, clutching jasper's collar on our walk, when i bumped into the family. Mia (4) said to me, "don't worry, it's better now, you won't get tangled up on walks" of course, that's one of the things I miss, but she was trying to make me feel better. so was the 2 yr old, when she said suddenly and simply, "dog died".

xx

That made me, smile, snigger and awwwwwwwwwwww bless. Kids eh?

Priceless.

Kids...........I know that feeling well

Oh that made me laugh.

When we found my beloved Rabbit had passed away through the night, my delightful younger sister piped up with "Was it stiff"

Until last year I had two terriers, father and son called Tuffy and Tobi. Tobi despite being the younger one died with cancer just 10 months before his Dad. My niece's little girl called to see me with a card she had drawn for me. On the card it said 'I am sorry Tuffy died'. When I pointed out to her that it was Tobi who had gone to heaven and not Tuff she ran to her Mum and said' Its ok Mummy, Tuffy isn't dead. Its only Tobi so its alright!'
Tuffy had always played with her whereas my darling Tobi was an anxious little soul who was just always at my side.Despite my sorrow I had to smile as she was so happy to see my older dog still alive.

- now promise not to hate me?

about ten years ago my friend and neighbour rang the doorbell in the middle of the night - he was very obviously shaken up and tearful, he could barely speak - my heart was in my mouth (i am godmother to their son, who was born prematurely- ventilator - 15 mins to live etc) Suddenly behind him his wife appeared with my godson (now about 6 months) in her arms - "can you look after him?" She said -" only the dogs dying and we need to get to the vets quickly..." (oldie german shepherd)

I was just so relieved that this time it wasn't the baby who was poorly,( there had been a few late night frights in his first few weeks of life) i said something really sensitive like "Oh thank god it's only the dog"

Ooops!

Best friend fully understood what I meant by that - her OH didn't take in what i said, so luckily he still speaks to me!





- when my son was about 6 he came in from the garden triumphant that he had squashed a spider - I gave him the full lecture on 'poor mummy and daddy spider, waiting for baby spider to come home, crying into their webs' etc etc

He looked thoughtful and went back outside - a few minutes later he comes back in

'its ok mum, mummy and daddy spider aren't crying any more - You see, I found them and squashed them too!"


- wasn't quite the moral message i'd hoped to teach

I like that its needed at times.