Sad Day....

Yes, that note says, "Dear Bubbles, I love you . Love, Jacey" written a few months ago when I was thinking he wasn't looking so hot and tried preparing her for this by telling her Bubbles was old and sick.




Yesterday was maybe one of the hardest days ever of being Jacey's mom. Not because of anything she did, but because nothing I could do would cheer her up. After 3 years, Bubbles died. For anyone who has been to our house (or probably talked to Jacey on the phone) you probably know that Bubbles was Jacey's pet fish. And pretty much one of her best friends. One year for Christmas, her Uncle Chris gave her a gift card to Wal-mart to buy whatever she wanted. It was a year with lots of toys, most of which lit up and played music or made some kind of sound. That's great, but I was trying to encourage her to get something that wouldn't get overshadowed by all the other things she got as well. We walked around Wal-mart FOREVER, until we ended up over by the fish. She begged me for a fish, and I think was surprised when I said yes. She did very good at not trying to climb up on the table by it (pretty impressive for a 2-year-old, I thought), and was very attentive to feeding him and reminding me to "clean his house" for him. The whole time I would try to get him out of his tank with the little net thing to clean she would sit there and talk to him so he wouldn't get scared. ("It's ok Bubbles, I'm right here, Mama's just going to clean your house so you don't get sick. It's ok Bubbles..) When I saw he died yesterday and sat down to tell Jacey I was expecting her to be sad. I just underestimated how sad. She threw herself in my lap and sobbed for a good half hour. And I had a good cry too- not because I was super attached to Bubbles, but why is it so stinkin' hard to see your kids so sad? We said a prayer that Heavenly Father would help her heart feel better and she sniffled through the whole prayer. Then, all Sacrament meeting (our church doesn't start until 2:30), I would look over at her periodically to see her trying very hard to look brave, biting her lip, with tears in her eyes. Today is "the funeral", and she has it all planned out. She even put together a guest list, but I had to draw the line there.

There was a little good that came of yesterday though, especially for me. When we got home from church she took Broden in her bedroom, pulled the stool over by the dresser so he could see and gave him the most beautiful, simplest explanation of the Plan of Salvation. "See, Broden? Bubbles died. That's just his body laying there. His spirit's not in his body anymore. That's what made him swim around. His body is going to rest for awhile in the ocean (thank you to Finding Nemo for the explanation that all drains lead to the ocean- flushing Bubbles down the toilet could have been a very traumatic experience otherwise) but then someday his spirit will go back in his body. And he'll be resurrected. And he'll get to live with Heavenly Father again. So will we Broden, and I think that Heavenly Father will probably let Bubbles live with us again up there." Thanks Jacey, for the great reminder!