Circle of Life

After getting home from my son's ball hockey game last night, he got ready for bed, and like every other night, I put Scratchy the hamster's cage in the hallway because like all hamsters, Scratchy has a habit of scratching at his shavings and crunching noisily on his seeds and carrots during the middle of the night, which wakes the boy up.

Before setting the cage down, I checked on the hamster who was still sleeping in his little house. Except that Scratchy wasn't sleeping. Or moving. Or breathing. I called my son into the kitchen where I had brought the cage and told him as gently as possible that his little pet had died.

We both started to cry. We checked again. And again.

My son didn't want a hug from his mummy, which he has always wanted in the past when something upsets him. This time he wanted to be left alone in his room. I could hear him crying, his heart hurting and with a peek through the half-open bedroom door could see the tears flowing freely down his face.

There are moments in life that always stand out more sharply than others because of the pain we feel, the sadness we show, the tears that fall and seeing him go through this experience was a crystal clear, stand-still reminder for me that my son is on his way to becoming a man one day.

I tucked him in after we decided that we will have a little funeral and bury Scratchy in our backyard.

Then he hugged me.