I have one very sad little girl tonight and it breaks my heart to see her hurting. She spends a lot of time at her friend's house and this friend has three dogs. These dogs are like family to my daughter and she loves them so dearly. One of these dogs, Oliver, has been very ill and ended up having surgery yesterday. My daughter was with him when he got home and tried to comfort him every time he cried. She cried too to see him in so much pain.
Today, Oliver went back to the vet and sadly, did not come home. My daughter did go with the family to say good bye. I wasn't home when she got here. Her dad was here and he said that she cried herself to sleep. I didn't quite know what to do but I knew I needed to talk to her about loss. I asked my neighbor Keri, if she knew of any books that might help me open the door to talking about what my daughter was feeling.
Keri had a fabulous book recommendation that she borrowed to us. The book is called
The Next Place by Warren Hanson.
I read it first and then my daughter and I read it together. It is so beautifully written......
with simple illustrations.
The message is one of comfort and love. This is my favorite part of the book both because of the illustration and the message...... "There will be no room for darkness in that place of living light, where an ever-dawning morning push back the dying night. The very air will fill with brilliance, as the brightly shining sun and the moon and half a million stars are married into one."
Although it's hard to see my daughter struggle with such difficult emotions, I do feel blessed that she is a compassionate and loving little girl. And I'm grateful for a book like this to help us through these painful experiences.
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." -Will Rogers
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