PROJECTS: GOODBYE BELLA

Not long after Christmas 2010, we all said farewell to our beloved dog Bella. She was 13 and had been suffering from a cancerous tumour in her hip for several months. Before going toschool in the morning, the boys kissed her goodbye before the vet was due to arrive to put her to sleep. She had been part of our family. She was there on the bed the night the boys were born and they knew only a home life with Bella always there. As she grew old and crotchety, they respected her like an elderly lady in pain and seemed to love her ever more. And when she died, and they came home to a dog that didn't climb out of her basket to greet them, it wasn't easy for them. It was the first time they had experienced death ever. And we let them be with us as we buried her. Saxon sometimes asks 'Is Bella bones yet Mummy?' as he tries to understand what happens when you die. Perhaps I say, but her soul has gone somewhere else.