Hang in there. Death is a strange, indescribable thing, especially for kids. Around 18 months ago, I packed up the family and we moved 600 miles away. Away from school. Away from family and friends. Away from the only church my oldest knew (5 at the time). Away from the parks, museums, and zoos she knew and loved. Two months later, our dog of almost 12 years died. She was sooo close to him. She started acting out and shutting down--at school and with us. She started having nightmares. Even nearly a year later, she would occasionally cry herself to sleep. This is a tough girl, but it broke her. She's strong again, but it took a lot of time to process her grief in a constructive way. Not meaning to be discouraging, but you may have a long road ahead. Presence and love, though, dispels all darkness. And through your posts I can see that she'll have that in spades.
Michael
Thanks Michael. Funny you mention this, as this is the same circumstances we are faced with. We moved about 700 miles north last summer. Alayna has missed her friends, and most of her family. I knew the only way to circumvent that sadness any at all was to as quickly as possible start building good memories here. I have been working on this since last summer, but not so fast as to overwhelm. The winter has been hard on her. It was exciting at first. She loved hiking in the snow for the first couple of months, and also going sledding down a huge hill for the first time in her life. But as the winter drug on, the temps reached extreme cold...-12F a lot and wind chills in the -35F range often, more and more she was forced to stay inside. Missing three solid weeks of school due to snow days, twice a solid week at a time, wasn't good for her as there are no kids out this way where we live. She had starting having some slight behavior issues. Nothing major, just not being herself. Then this happened. Luckily the temps have risen, the snow has melted, and she doesn't have to wear her weight again in clothing just to play outside so it could have happened at a much worse time. She is dealing with it very well actually. Last night when I tucked her in she said "I miss Pixie", but without crying about it. The first three nights afterward she cried herself to sleep. While I have toned things down a bit, I have never lied to her, even about bad circumstances (she has never been taught to believe in Santa Clause, but knows the story of St Nicholas and the spirit of giving, she knows there is no tooth fairy or Easter Bunny) and I have never sugar coated anything very much. She is a tough little girl. Even more so after this winter. After spending all winter running in heavy snow boots, snow pants and coat over thermals, jeans, and sweaters she loves running in just her jeans and a shirt. I think she is going to be fine.
Dude, stay strong. You're my Fiddleback hero
No worries man, this is FAR from the worst I have been through in my time on this planet. I'm doing fine. Losing that one magazine actually frees up time to work on the books I have been working on more
I was just explaining why I hadn't posted much the last few days. I'm not going anywhere, I've been fondling the KE Bushie this morning trying to decide what to do next with it. The down side of the recent events is that the snow is gone and the humidity has been too high to do anything with a bow drill so now I have to go at it from a different approach.
Dude hang in, you've got this. Remember 'ol group mantras and such about things that don't kill you make you stronger.. For what its worth; when it rains it pours and this too shall eventually end.
Oh I'm hanging
. Trust me, being a teenager living on the streets, living in urban woods and burnt out buildings, and roasting alley cats (which by the way taste NOTHING like chicken
) to survive the winter without going into the system, gives one a fairly permanent grasp on what constitutes truly bad circumstances
We'll pull through this as a team as we have for the last eleven years
Hang in there, at least everything else looks brighter after a shitty period.
Hope the kitten grows under your daughter's care, the two of them should bond very well now. Hard time is teaching them to catch mice, birds and rabbits
Yeah, hanging man. At least one of my editors is glad I will have more time for them now
I think they will bond well, but with it being my wife that is bottle feeding it, I think there will be a permanent bond there too. I have already been told by a few who have bottle fed baby kittens that they don't usually act like typical cats when they get older. We'll just have to wait and see how that part goes
