About a year ago, Noelia befriended a stray cat that was hanging around the neighborhood. She fed it daily and when they saw that it liked to watch them through their window, her daddy built a little house for the cat and set it where it could still sit and watch through the window but where it would be out of the wind and snow.
The cat would wander over the neighborhood, but every time their car drove into the driveway the cat would race back to welcome Noelia. Fluffy was her cat.
But Fluffy was a female and unfixed females go into heat and get chased by males. In Fluffy's case the males chased her across the street at the wrong time. Fluffy got hit by a car. And Noelia had her first real encounter with death.
She cried a lot. Her grandpa was there for her just as grandpa has always been there. How traumatic it would have been if it had been her grandpa as it very well could have been this past year.
We are doubling our efforts to remind our grandchildren that death among Christians is not saying good bye forever. We don't know for sure about little pussy cats, but we do know exactly where her grandpa and grandma will be going some day, and we can give her the assurance that it will be the happiest place imaginable and that she will also be able to come someday because she loves Jesus too.
For now we have helped her through her grief by taking her to the market and finding her a cute cuddly bunny. Her daddy built a pen, and her kitty's house has become a rabbit hutch.
And life goes on.
For more about Grandchildren and the subject of death, see: Sometimes Grandparents Get Sick
and Lord Willing
If you have had any experiences with grandchildren grieving, we would like to hear from you.
