Saying Goodbye is Hard to Do

Daddy Puppy. Those two words warm the heart of my daughter. He was her beloved stuffy. Shannon got him for her when she was born. A beautiful black lab, soft and squishy. His simple red collar and silver bone tag with the word "SPIRIT" on the front. He went EVERYWHERE with us. All of our vacations, he was there too. Any bumps and bruises, he was there. Doctor's checkups, stuffy noses, vomit and even in the bath...Daddy Puppy was a permanent fixture in our lives. Vegas put an end to Daddy Puppy. On our last night there, a very crowded tour bus of Japanese sight see-ers entered the lobby just as we were retiring to our room for the night. T and t were already fast asleep and we were carrying them to the elevator. Daddy Puppy was stuffed tightly in Shannon's pocket...that is, until the hoards of people knocked him out. We were up to our room on the 32nd floor before we realized that he was missing, 5 minutes was all it took for him to be kidnapped. Gone forever. We went to security, lost and found, I even walked through the lobby peering into peoples bags, staring at little children to see if they had scooped him up. I asked the patrons if they would keep their eyes peeled and let the concierge know. People looked at me like I was nuts....and I was. I was going crazy trying to find him. After 3 hours of looking, I gave up. Shannon was a mess. The thought of telling Trinity in the morning was eating him up. I will admit it, I cried. It is only a material item I know, but the memories attached to that stuffed animal all irreplaceable. 8Am rolled around and T was still asleep. Shan wanted so badly to wake her just to get it over with, but he realized that was selfish, and he waited. He bought her donuts to try and help lessen the blow. Her big brown eyes opened around 9AM and she was a smily fool as always. Excited about her donuts she began to scarf one down. Shannon let her finish, then he pulled her on his lap and told her that he had to tell her something.

Shan - "Hey cutie, I have to tell you something."
T - "Sure Daddy, what is it??" *excited like he had a surpise for her.*

Shan - "Well, it's not a good thing, it's a sad thing."

T - *her face getting serious* "What??"

Shan - "Last night, when we were bringing you to bed...."

T - "Yes"

Shan - "Daddy Puppy fell out of my pocket....and now we can't find him."
T - *Quiet*

Shan - "Boo boo...I'm sorry, we looked everywhere. We told the security..."
T- "Did you check lost and found??"
Shan - *nodding*

T- *Quiet*

Shan - "I know that you are sad...so are we, it's ok to be sad."
T - *Holding back her tears trying to digest what he just told her."
Shan - "Boo boo...it's ok to cry."

T - *Balling....squishing her face into her daddy"

ME - *holding on to her...*

LONG QUIET PAUSE...she composes herself.

T - "You know what? They may have my Daddy Puppy, but they can't have my memories...those belong to me, and they can't take them away."

I was amazed at the words that just came out of her mouth. How mature, and understanding to know that although someone took her beloved pet, they could not have her memories that they shared together. Shannon tracked down another DP, but he wasn't quite the same...we had another stuffy that was given to Tristan, and he didn't really care for it either way, so, we made him into the "new" Daddy Puppy. Trinity held him tight, and closed her eyes. I asked her what she was doing and she says "I am putting all of the memories from Daddy Puppy into this Daddy Puppy." We put a new tag on him that reads

Daddy Puppy

Belongs to Trinity

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