sad wednesday

this morning, the inevitable happened. we arrived at my mom's house to find out that only one of the two pet chicks of arianna was in the box. it's only been two and a half days since she brought home the cute purple and aqua chicks from a birthday party. she had a big box prepared for them, with holes so that they could breathe, a bottlecap-ful of seeds and cup of water for each of them, and newspaper lining changed every morning. for the past two mornings before going to school, and as soon as she arrived from school, she lovingly checked up on them. it's not out of lack of care that she had lost the aqua chick. the chick had apparently squeezed itself out of one of the holes and wandered where the pet dog was. you guessed it, it was a violent one.

she cried buckets when she heard the sad news. as if a relative or dear friend had passed away. indeed she was always the sensitive and sentimental one. if only i could spare her from any disappointment or sadness or loss, i would. but that is beyond my human power. and just like anything in life, these things and even worse things than these happen. for now, i could only empathize with her and help her let go. i know not-so-happy experiences like these help us prepare for other inevitable not-so-happy moments to come. i will try not to shield her, but instead, experience her experiences with her along the way, and share my strength with her if need be. so i could prepare her to be strong enough to later on be able to let go of the bigger things in life.