Didn't start the day off well. Snowstorm, school was cancelled and my daughter's budgie "Elvis" died.I was awaken this morning with my 7 year old daughter crying...Mommy...Elvis is dead!! I rolled over, looked at the clock (6:15am) and replied, of course he is honey, he died a long time ago, not new news. Only once I woke up completely did I understand what she was saying. Heidi's mate, Elvis was indeed dead, laying on the bottom of the cage, with Heidi standing over him chirping at him to get up. Very sad sight.I scooped Elvis out of the cage, put him in a shoe box and went back to bed.

A little harsh maybe, but it was 6:15 in the morning. Only once I realized that she was not going to let me go back to sleep did I decide to talk to her about death. My sons learned the hard way. They had 2 grandfathers die within months of each other before my daughter was born. So Grace's first lesson was with Elvis. Our chat consisted of explaining the circle of life and that animals adapt. Heidi will take to her new cage mate, when we go get him, and she won't miss Elvis forever. Grace looked at me and asked if I would adapt if anything happened to Dad. I looked her square in the face and answered as honest as I could. I said Grace, people aren't all that different from animals. I then went back to bed.

Do you think she let me go back to sleep? No. But it gets better. She cried for a bit. Told her brothers, who usually are not her allies in anything, who were surprisingly very kind to her about her loss. Then she walked back into my room and explained that it's going to be ok. Both Elvis and Heidi came with a 30 day warranty.