Death of a Hamster

Sunday night was a tragic time for our house. I was studying Physics (another story for another time) when I heard Levi start to cry. He called "Daaaaaaad" and I said what. He cried "Daaaaaad!". So I went into his room and asked "What's up?" He was distraught and through his tears cried "Ben's Dead!".

I was shocked. I moved over to the bed and checked on the hamster named Ben. Sure enough Ben wasn't moving. I opened the door to the cage and again no movement. I touched Ben (yes I washed my hand afterwards) and no movement. Ben was officially dead.

Levi was in major grief. You read about weeping and wailing in the scriptures. This was his behavior about losing his "best friend". So I talked with him and we made arrangements for Ben's funeral service for the next day. Part of the preparation was to create a headstone for Ben.

I always have some wood around so I found some thin panelling and cut out a head stone for Ben. Levi and I then sat down and decided what to write. We decided on the following:

"R.I.P. Here lies my friend Ben. Nov 2008 - Mar 14th 2010"

Levi then wrote in the corner of the headstone "I love you Ben by Levi". It took a long time for Levi to go to sleep. He was traumatized to say the least. We held the service the next day. Levi misses Ben and I'm sure it will take a while for him to get over his grief.