So. Yesterday was strange.
Jonathan's Aunt Edna turned 80, and we were all dressed and ready to go to her birthday party. But I open the door, and we see Yentl... munching on a bird. Like, literally. I don't want to gross anyone out, let me just say that the bird was still breathing and the cat was muzzle-deep.
We push Yentl aside, try to shield the kids (it didn't work) and had a quick discussion on what to do... we couldn't let the cat finish it off. So thank goodness for my mother, she's in town for the weekend, I'm feeling like the kid very grateful that I don't have to be the adult - she asks me to get her a towel, she picks up the bird, turns her back to us, and breaks its neck.
We can't just throw the bird away; Xander wants to bury it.
The only shovel on hand is a toy plastic shovel from the sandbox. We wet the dry parched CA earth, Mom dug as much as she could, and we buried it. I sang the sad-sounding melody of Psalm 16 that I sing at funerals, I thanked the bird for the joy that it brought us with its beauty and its song, Xander spoke to it saying he was sorry Yentl caught it, and we closed with the Mourner's Kaddish.
Then we left for the birthday party. We were an hour late - but, that burial defined a "teachable moment." Xander talked about it for half the trip and then after, when we got home. I was really proud of him; he was so clear that the bird was a creature of nature and deserved respect, that we had to bury it and give it a proper funeral.
Definitely not the way I had planned to spend my Shabbat... but very worthwhile in the end.
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