A Sad Story

The other day we were all at home in the evening. The kids were playing and I was doing dishes. All of a sudden I hear Max crying. It wasn't a cry like he was in pain, more like a devastated cry. I knew that he had been playing with Lizzy the snake. A little background on Lizzy. When we were at the cabin for the 4th Max spent most of his time there trying to catch a snake. It never happened and he was very disappointed. About a week later Jared's uncle Dan came home from the cabin with a snake for Max! Words cannot describe the excitement on Max's face! That snake went everywhere with him. On his scooter, on his skateboard, he tried putting it in his pocket but I stopped him. He also tried sleeping with it in his hand, promising he wouldn't let go. Lizzy even went to school for show-and-share! It's safe to say that Lizzy was Max's best friend. Back to the story. So I run in to see why he is crying and he yells "I was just playing with him and he died!" I looked at the snake and he was upside down with his tongue stuck to his head! Yuck! We decided we were going to bury him but before that, Max wanted to unstick his tongue. As soon as his tongue was fixed he started moving again! Max was soooo happy but it was obvious to me that the snake wasn't gonna make it through the night. Max is back to bawling. I convinced him that it would be better to let him go in the flower bed than to wake up and find him dead in his cage. Max thought this was a good idea. He took him outside and through his tears says "Bye Lizzy. I love you. I hope I see you again real soon." This is where I start to lose it! I didn't let him see me but I went in the other room and called my mom. I could hardly speak I was crying so much. My heart hurt so bad for him. After talking to my mom I went and hugged Max and he told me that he may look sad but he is happy that he let Lizzy go. He is such a sweet boy! Since that night we have had a few melt-downs but he is saving up for a new snake! Oh joy!