I had not intended to bury Jacob. We have both possums and raccoons in our neighborhood; they dig up anything they can find and eat. I can't even throw overripe bananas into the garden without them pulling them out and devouring them.
My daughter felt otherwise.
Jacob was her pet, given to her as a gift on Christmas of 2005. She and Jacob saw very little of each other as her bedtime was about a half hour before he woke up. She and her friends would occasionally take him out in the afternoon to play with him, but that was very rare. I really didn't think she had developed much of an attachment to the little guy.
When she found out he had died, she was devastated. She cried for quite some time until it finally came out that she wanted a proper burial for him. She wanted to say goodbye. And so I pulled him out of the trash and we walked over to the vegetable garden and buried him (deeply) there. I said a short service for him, thanking God for having given us such a delightful little friend and hoping that he had lots of seeds and treats and places to explore in Hamster Heaven. My daughter led us both in a Hail Mary. We covered him up and put a simple marker over the site.
It made all the difference in the world.
That is so sad . . . and sweet, too. At the risk of sounding flippant, I think it is entirely appropriate that you gave the Faithful Beadle of the Feline Theocracy a proper funeral for his faithful service.I suppose the Theocracy will need a new Beadle, but I move we give Jacob the title Beadle Emeritus.
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