Tomorrow’s departure for vacation was somewhat dampened by tragedy tonight. On my way back to work from lunch, I received a call from the sitter, “Uhh, we have a situation here.”
It turns out that God decided to call our good old friend Yoda, the pet hamster, back home. My oldest son had gone upstairs to clean out Yoda’s cage before taking him to our hamster sitter. He discovered Yoda’s body shortly after I left the house.
Yoda lived to a ripe, old 2.5 years. He was curious. He was friendly. He loved to be held cupped between your two hands with his head sticking out between your thumbs and index fingers. He loved exploring the dark corners of the house in his hamster ball. He loved to eat fresh peas and corn, scurrying to the top of his cage whenever either one entered the room.
Yoda lay in state in a shoe box in our living room for the remainder of the afternoon. My son had fashioned a cushy bed out of some toilet paper with a cotton ball pillow. When we got home from work we held a brief service in the back yard. We read from Psalms 50:10-11 and Psalms 136:25. We each said a few words about Yoda. We wished him well in the afterlife. We said a short prayer thanking God for allowing us to take care of him while he walked the earth. We laid him in the ground.
Now, in our backyard flower garden, behind the day lilies and not too far from the sound of the waterfall is a small mound of dirt. My husband helped my son fashion a grave marker for Yoda out of a 1 by 4. It says, “Yoda, a happy pet,” on the front and the year of his birth and death on the back. A small bouquet of pink tulips decorates the humble grave.
We will miss him.
“For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. Every bird of the mountains and all the animals of the field belong to me.” Psalm 50:10-11
