Thursday, July 12, 2018

R.I.P., Baby Groot

Many years ago, when I was a young kid, I remember begging my mom for a hamster. She was so afraid that I'd let it out to run wild throughout the house so the answer was always "no." But, because she is such an awesome mom, I got a hamster for Christmas that year. 

It came with a plastic ball and batteries. It ran around the house when I turned it on and would stop when I turned him off. That was as much of a hamster that I'd ever get. I will admit that I was always a bit childishly bitter about this. Well, until March 9, 2018. 

That was the day Damian wrote an essay about how much he wanted a hamster. He wanted to love on it and take care of it and learn responsibility. He said all the right things, wrote it in some great handwriting, and we were proud. 

The kid got a hamster. A tiny dwarf hamster that he decided to name Baby Groot. 

This hamster never really did much... slept, mostly. But he sure could dirty a cage. After seeing the process that takes place with these little suckers -- I am so thankful my mom got me the battery-operated variety. 

Anyways, yesterday, Damian hollered for me to come to his bedroom. He said "my hamster's nose is turning green." I didn't yet have my contacts in so I glanced in the cage (honestly, not able to really see his nose) and told Damian that he was ok. 

Palm to head I went about 3 hours later. 

I was in the office working when Damian yells across the house, "My hamster is dead! Baby Groot is dead! Michelle come here! Ohhhhhhh, nooooooooooooo!" And then cue the tears. Lots of them. 

Since this is my first time dealing with the child-dead pet scenario, I was not sure how to handle it. We talked a little bit about Baby Groot and how he was probably running around in heaven now. He asked if we could bury him in the backyard and I told him of course we can because, well, how could I tell him otherwise? He leaned on my shoulder, face full of tears, and said maybe we should pray. 

Now, to visualize what happened next, you are going to need to pay attention. 

This was Baby Groot's cage. In the bottom left of the picture, you see the yellow viewing spot. That is where the little guy took his last breath. His feet were inside the viewer and his head was pointing into the cage. As we stood there - not at all touching the cage - I was saying a prayer to the best of my ability for the recently deceased hamster.

As soon as I said the words, "Jesus, please take care of... " Baby Groot fell head first into the cage. He sat with his tail and feet straight in the air. We both jumped up. And Damian exclaimed, "Was that Jesus?!" His big eyes were staring at me for an answer. 

All I could say was, "Well, it looks like Jesus got 'em, buddy."

R.I.P. little Baby Groot. Damian is already asking for another... 


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