We Asked For This...

So with all this dog stuff, my daughter the Songbird, does something so innocent, so loving, so child like, I can't even describe how it makes me feel. She left a single rose, that grows in our yard, on Thumper's grave site. She left a rose and said "Thumper, my good boy, I love you. Goodbye" and that is just a 4-year-old speaking from the heart. I'm proud of her, I'm sad as I think of Thumper, but so proud of her. Of the people I've confided in, most say "I would kill the alligator." Well, I sort of had that reaction already, when I was fishing the body out of the water.

But would that change anything? Not in the least. The gator was just doing what the gator does. We wanted the house next to the lake, with that lake, pond, lagoon, comes some expectation of risk. I knew that when I bought the place. If I would have ever thought that I'd lose my best friend because of it, maybe I would reconsider, but what is done is done. Lord as much I would love to punch the reset button, I know there is no reset button.

Back to the Songbird and the situation we find ourselves in... We went to Michaels and got one of those cement stepping stones to forever remember him. You can see it below.


It is by no means perfect, but neither was he, which makes it just right. I still haven't come to terms completely with how he died and what went wrong, but I'm learning. At least now I got it in here, and the stone, and the countless others who have taken pictures of him. And that is good enough.