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“It was when I was happiest that I longed most…The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing…to find the place where all the beauty came from.” C.S. Lewis in Till We Have Faces
Because of the lessons which we believe Kinsley has learned, we accepted the offer from my parents and siblings, to purchase a new pet fish for Kinsley.
Allow me to introduce you to…
Stuart Little. Kinsley named him. Sophie calls him Stupid Little.
Kinsley was thrilled when she saw the new fish. Her grieving for Lyle was instantly completed, and she accepted the new fish whole-heartedly.
Though she did tear up while observing “Lyle Junior”.
Then she hugged Marme, and pronounced it “…a very nice fish!”
With the death of Lyle we would like to think that Kinsley learned that her parents do know what they’re talking about, and that we do tell her not to do things for her own good, since Dan had told her not to touch the fish less than an hour before the accident. We are afraid that lesson may not yet be learned, but we have hope that there were several other important lessons learned.
Lyle’s death showed Kinsley for the first time the permanence of death, and the loss that is felt even from the death of a lowly fish. It’s a loss that transcends the mere physical, even when it’s a pet. Experiencing that death showed the value of life. Seeing the value of life, makes us see that it is infinite, and should be eternal. Kinsley believes us without skepticism when we tell her that people can live again, in a better state, and that it is possible that even their pets will live again with them. We had talked about Heaven with her, and she did not understand why the fish could not come back to life. Now, she knows there is a waiting time, in this life, for all things to be made perfect, and meantime, that these losses cause pain.
We wish the loss of her fish could be her only loss in life, but there are sure to be more and deeper losses for her, as part of being alive in this difficult world, and because of that we shed tears of our own with her as she was weeping in mourning for her beloved fish.
Though Lyle was smaller than other fish which Kinsley has enthusiastically participated in catching, cleaning, and cooking, Kinsley has learned that sometimes it falls to us to protect innocent creatures in our lives.
Life is strange and often painful, but good because it is leading ever onward to perfect, eternal Life, of which we see glimpses now.
Today was a very sad day at Gentlewood Cottage. Through an unfortunate accident, Lyle met his maker today. If fish meet their maker.
The accident involved Kinsley removing Lyle from his comfortable home to examine him – unbeknownst to us. By the time Aunt Paula happened upon the scene, it was too late for Lyle.
It was pretty traumatic once Kinsley had comprehended that Lyle was dead. She wasn’t able to grasp what had happened, until I told her that Lyle had depended on us to feed him everyday, and watch him swimming in his nice bowl. Then she went into the living room and looked into the fishbowl – then began to cry.
She wailed for a long while for him, wishing that she could feed him again, and not wanting to bury him – but after a while, she gave in and led the funeral procession, with Lyle in his tiny casket in her hand.
She chose a spot under the clothesline, and after Glen dug the grave, Papa said a few words about Lyle’s life, and she carefully placed the Altoid casket into the hole.
Then she cried some more.
Then Marme and Grandma both called with their condolences.
As we were headed into the house, she asked Dan if he could read the book Lorenzo the Fish “in honor of Lyle”. Those were her words, by the way.
And so they did. She asked if Lyle had brothers and sisters and a mom and dad. Dan told her that Lyle had been pretty much alone in the world, and she wanted to know if it was because he was a little baby…
Goodbye Lyle. Thanks for being a good fish.
Nathan picked this lovely little bouquet as a peace offering for Kinsley, who had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. I don’t know if it cheered her up or not, but it certainly cheered me!
Kinsley has a ridiculously tender head. Usually it frustrates me when I’m the one working with her, but for some reason I found it both heart-breaking and humorous when I was observing from the other side of the room.
Poor thing. If only this was as difficult as life would get for her.
This bouquet was brought to me in a the tight grasp of a chubby three year old fist. She has been anxiously awaiting spring, so that she can perform this very task.
I suppose this is a stretch for green week, but I just noticed that the majority of Kinsley’s current dinosaur family (who spends much time with us, these days) happened to be green. So ignore the pink, and embrace the green…
The Nester has had a few really great posts lately on decorating with what you have, and making each room in your home a place that you really do want to be. Her series “Ten Minutes to a Room You Love” has been good, but for some reason I found her Tablescape Tutorial especially inspiring.
It’s the perfect little task for a highly pregnant mama to do on her due date. I feel like I’m getting something done, and still managing to expend very little energy.
It also is a perfect way to showcase a few of my very favorite items, like this little wooden sandpiper that Dan’s dad gave me for Christmas. His parents give the best gifts!
The new arrangement also brings the proper attention to one of Kinsley’s favorite things:\
This is Lyle Maxwell The Kindly Fish. He is a gift from Marme and Grandad, and my grandparents. They also are amazingly talented gift givers. Of course, Kinsley did hint very blatantly (she suggested that it might have been a more appropriate Valentine’s Day gift than a balloon).
As you can probably tell, Kinsley named Lyle. She says that when we say “goodnight” to him, we have to say “Goodnight, Lyle Maxwell!” When we say “good morning”, we only have to say “Good morning, Lyle!” But when we leave, then we say “Goodbye, Lyle Maxwell the Kindly Fish!” I once messed it all up, and when Kinsley gently corrected me, I told her I was sorry. She said “That’s fine, Mama. Just don’t let it happen again.”
So, back to the decorating. I need a few opinions, here.
Arrangment (1)a:
Or
Arrangement (1)b:
Or none of the above?
Also,
Arrangement (2)a:
or
Arrangement (2)b:
Or, no plant there at all?
What should I do to finish it off?
(photo credit – pasotraspaso)
A few evenings ago, we were all piled on the couch, Dan reading The Wind In The Willows aloud to us, and me knitting happily, when I heard a scurry of activity across the living room. I looked up in time to see a large-ish mouse slipping and skidding on our smooth laminate floor, and around the corner into the guest room (won’t that make you feel welcome at our home?). I shouted (the obvious)…
“A mouse!”
Dan got up to see if he could find any trace of the rodent, and then went about re-setting the traps. We thought we had won the war (in our house, anyway) against mice a while back, but alas, not so.
Kinsley followed along behind Dan rather dreamily, watching the traps being set, then wandered back into the living room.
“Mama, I wish that we had the kind of mouse that stood on it’s back legs and talked. Then I could call it Stuart Little, and you could like it.”
Want to guess what cook the girls and I are reading at nap times these days?
