RIP - Kitty "Sarge" the Cat

Earth day 2009 while Mommy and Max were watching the Disney Earth movie Daddy was taking our cat Sarge to the vet because he had stopped all eating and drinking.  We had warned Max the the vet might not be able to heal him and that he should give him a big hug and tell him bye. When we got home Max could tell by the look on Daddy's face that something was wrong.  The first thing he asked was did Sarge die to which Daddy responded yes.  Max immediately broke down into tears.  Daddy took him outside and showed him where he buried him.  Max had a hard time that night but seemed ok going to school the next day and even brought up funny things about Sarge on the way.  However, by the time he had walked into the building and made it to class his teacher said he was in tears again and could hardly hang up his backpack.  She let him go talk to the school counselor who talked with him about Sarge and had him draw a picture and tell a story about Sarge.  He came back to class feeling much better.  

Ironically it  took this tragedy to alert us to Max's progression in the emotion department.  For years he has had a hard time reading emotions on people's faces.  He would always have to ask me "What face are you?" - meaning are you mad, sad, happy, etc... and then given the answer to that question he would not always have an appropriate response.  However in this instance he was able to recognize the sadness on Daddy's face and then respond appropriately to the news of the death.  So thank you Sarge for giving us one last gift - the realization that Max is normalizing.  

Rest in Peace Sarge - Adult in 1996 when we rescued you - 2009