A Sad Day

By Amy

It's been a sad day in the Morello house today.... At about 10:15 the boys and I put Snowball in my bathroom and headed out the door to pick Savannah up from school. We made it back home around 11am. As Savannah walked in, she headed straight to my bathroom to let Snowball out. Immediately she burst into tears and came running to me, saying she thought Snowball's dead. I quickly headed into the bathroom to find our little friend lying on his side next to our bathtub. I immediately picked him up and wrapped him in a towel, as he was all wet. His legs kicked a little, but he didn't seem to be breathing. Savannah and I both held him and prayed. Pretty soon, he stoped moving at all. We cried together and call Brad.

This little guy was so funny! He was full of determination. Many times we have laughed watching him try to jump up on the couch or on the kitchen table. (Thankfully, he was unsuccessful at both!) We have found him trapped in the trash can multiple times, though. And, we just couldn't keep him in his cage. Even after blocking all four sides, he'd still climb out the roof. So, we basically turned my bathroom into his "cage." He still had an actual cage in there with his food, water, and litter box inside, but we never shut the door. It was located next to our bathtub. A few times, we've gone to get him only to find him trapped in our bathtub. We thought that was pretty funny and even joked about finally finding a place he couldn't escape from.

So, my only guess is that today, he got into our bathtub. Then, for the first time, he jumped up to the edge of the tub, but broke his back as he jumped down. I heard that breaking a back is a common way for bunnies to die, since they often twist hard when they jump from high places. I'm just so sad that my little girl had to be the one to find him....

When Brad came home this afternoon, he took his girls out for ice cream to try to cheer us up. (Unfortunately we discovered that our Baskin' Robins has closed down! -- bummer!) Then, when the boys woke up, we buried Snowball. Savannah and I both have shed a few tears since then. (It's silly how much I liked that little bunny!) But, I think we'll be OK. Brad has been sweet and sensitive and even took the kids down to the "grave" tonight so they could say good night to Snowball before heading to bed.

Although this has been sad, it's provided some good opportunities to remind our kids that all good gifts are from above. We were blessed to have a month with Snowball. Even though it was shorter than we had hoped/expected, we should be thankful. God is good and we trust his wisdom.