How to make a 6 year old cry.

I laid in bed last night meditating and thinking about all I would like to espouse in my blog today. This morning my list narrowed further. Would it be some great point of wisdom, a story featuring sharks and rays or maybe even a humorous tale of cultures colliding. But it became obvious this afternoon that what I would need to get off my chest was how I broke my 6 year old sons' heart with one sentence. "We need to find Scoodles a new home"

His desire for a puppy began the day he could form the words in his mouth. Every birthday, Christmas, and even a few Easters; all wish list started with a puppy. So finally last November, a few weeks before Christmas, we had the opportunity to make his dream come true. A puppy(that we had never seen before) arrived with his name on it. (We don't have much to choose from out here in the middle of the ocean.) There were a list of obstacles that we had to overcome or in the heat of moment simply ignore if we were going to take this puppy home.

After a couple of months those obstacles became a little clearer. The puppy was brought home even though we have no yard, grass or ounce of earth to poddy train him on. And the second was the fact that although he was a puppy he was not going to be a small dog and we have a small house and as I said before we have no yard, grass or ounce of earth to call our own.

Avery and his mother are heading off for a week to attend a homeschooling conference and the decision needed to be made. I made it and we are finding my sons "dream", the top of his wish list, a new home while he is gone this week. My suggestions to lie to him was shot down by his mother and our afternoon of sobbing began.

Distractions seem to be holding back the tears as he heads off to bed tonight but they will return again many times I am sure. And we have decided to embrace them. The dog has to go but not his memory. We took a disk full of pictures this afternoon and while he is gone we will make a print to hang on his wall of his first puppy. He needs to remember and so do we....