In the morning after my school run for Mary, I asked Abe to load Stilton so I could take him to the vet after dropping Clarissa off. He came to the garage and grabbed the carrier, went to get Stilton…and then came back out. Stilton had died in the night. We were both in shock, and so scared to tell the kids. I just went upstairs and gave Lydia, who was sleeping on the trundle upstairs, a huge hug. She woke up and asked, half asleep, “Is Stilton okay?”
I didn’t answer. She asked again, and then realized what had happened. Abe and I sat next to her while she curled up and processed her grief. Abe attempted to explain his reasoning behind not taking Stilton in the night before but that did not help. Eventually he had to go to work, and after he left I went downstairs to take Clarissa to school. At that point I heard loud wailing from the girls’ room. I thought Clarissa had handled the news fine (she had been sleeping on the trundle so heard us talking to Lydia), but I guess being in the room where she had lived with Stilton was just too much. She spent the morning wailing in my arms until 10am. When she calmed down I took her to school, where she cried quietly through recess. At night when she had to go to bed in the bed where she used to cuddle Stilton, she wailed again for another hour while Abe and I both held her.
In the middle of the day Nicole and Graham, our realtors, dropped in. I had contacted Nicole when it looked like we might move. I asked them what updates we needed to do to the house, and their advice was unequivocal. Don’t update anything! I was surprised because I assumed that if we updated it would be beneficial, but they both said we wouldn’t get our money back on any updates so not to do any. That was good news.
In the evening we took the kids out for Lydia’s birthday dinner at Sushi Mon. We had delicious sushi and then went to Meet Fresh for dessert. It was all Chinese shaved ice, egg waffles, and grass jelly. Very interesting and Lydia was the only person who did a great job ordering. The rest of us were in the wilderness and ordered random things that we felt ambivalent about. But I think it did grow on us over the course of the evening. I certainly would not turn down a bowl of grass jelly right now.
Lydia has been into eating Wasabi lately. I chose to join the…er…..fun? :https://photos.app.goo.gl/jTibnjC6LJN9N6qh9
Clarissa’s Drawing:
