Goodbye, Jade

Yesterday, among all the hub-bub of having four boys in the house all weekend, we also had to endure the death of Eddie's pet hamster.

All week, Jade had been getting weaker. She finally passed in the night on Saturday night. Eddie was pretty upset, but he immediately started lobbying for his new hamster. There was no way I was getting a new hamster, but at first, I didn't want to have that discussion with his pain being so fresh and raw. So I told him, "We'll see."

Well, he certainly wasn't satisfied with the "We'll see", because all day he kept niggling at me, "Maybe my next hamster will be called 'Ivory'." Or, "I'm going to go read the hamster book to pick out my next hamster."

Finally, I had it. I rather brusquely told him, "Eddie, we're not getting another hamster!"

This sent him off crying again, but I was fine with that. He's going to have to get over this one. I'm definitely looking to downsize the number of rodents in my life!

In typical Eddie style, he wrote me an impassioned note, laying it sweetly on my Bible saying,

"Dear Dad, Please can I get another hamster? I promise to take care of it and clean it, or whatever it is that makes you think I can't handle it. Love Eddie."

I thought, Ugh! No more hamsters! But I told him, "You talk to your mother when she gets home."

But I knew that Becky was of the same mindset as me. No more hamsters. No more rodents.

So all last night, Eddie suffered the enormous loneliness of his empty room. It must not have affected him too badly, as he went to sleep before 9:30, pretty usual for him.

So, Goodbye, Jade. You were a nice hamster.

But, no more. I'm done with hamsters.