he said

we have been sick, sick, sick. between the stomach virus that took our house by storm and the fever virus that has latched onto spencer for the last 5 days, i am over it. i have yet to take all three kids to preschool this week. luckily, my gracious parents have kept the ailing children so i could teach, and get a break from the sickies. so, today miller and spencer stayed with my parents at their home. let me set this up with a little back story:

when i was 17, i took in a stray cat while my parents were on vacation. yes, i did this occasionally much to my father's chagrin. thankfully, josh's allergy has curbed this unwelcome habit. my mother, who probably fostered such antics, took the cat to the vet and found out that he was a young cat who had been neutered and then dumped. so, we kept him. fast forward 15 years and here sit my parents with a 17 year old ailing cat who lives in the upstairs of their home do to my children's unwarranted fear of things that jump. even though they rarely saw him, they loved him and asked about him often. miller had become brave enough in the last year to help feed and care for him. this new found affection kept my parents from doing what they so desperately knew needed to be done. so, a couple of weeks before our disney trip, my mom did it, and then left town  in hopes that my children would forget. ahh . . . naivety, naivety.

while we were in disney, they mentioned continuing their vacation at the beach the following week to which one of my children said, "but who will feed sam?" uh oh.

now, back to today. my mom said she saw miller's eyes dart upstairs not long after he arrived. after a little while, he just put it out there and the following conversation occurred.

miller: where's sam?

my mom: well, he was really old and not well and he died. do you know what died means?

my dad: he went to be with Jesus.

miller: so if God took him to live with Jesus, do you think he could send a dog to live in your room?

my mom: do you think dogs are better than cats?

miller: yeah. cats sleep too much.

rest in peace, sam. rest in peace.