Those who are familiar with my little family, understand that my youngest daughter, Riyann, is an adventurous child who for the most part cares minimally about fitting in but rather draws contentment from her keen sense of artistic fervor and exploration. This being said, I do not think I’ve ever met such a kind and compassionate person throughout my travels. She will joyfully hand you a shirt when your chilled, a hug when you are down and is always ready to provide the best possible shoulder massage those little eight-year-old hands can give when she senses you are stressed. She cares not about material things and is routinely the recipient of her mother and my lectures about the importance of saving her money due to her truly caring nothing about it. She would rather find joy giving her hard-earned dollars to someone she senses is in need than worrying about placing it in her piggy bank or purse.

          Riyann has never been a child who looks forward to school and the contained learning which is associated therein. This year, to our glee, she routinely comes home from a long day at school with a smile on her face, bearing stories of fun and friendship as she discloses the particulars about her day making sure we know that although her teacher makes them do entirely too much arithmetic, she is still the best teacher ever. This past week Riyann, during one of her adventures, came across a skinny yellow cat which had undoubtedly been dropped off at the motel.

          Riyann and the cat began the bonding process as she conveniently experienced a total loss of hearing when it came to her mother and my repeated direction not to bother the animal. As the days passed by us, I would routinely see Riyann showing the cat affection as she played with the feline, she named Mittens. Although feral, Mittins appeared to sense that this child’s true intent and showed no aggressive behavior. The animal soon realized that my child would play with it while making it the center of this child’s universe and would routinely tag along wherever the child went.

          Upon closing one evening I returned to the main office in the dark of the evening. As I approached the door a small glimmer of light caught my eye. As I turned to look I observed Riyann, seated in a chair watching her ipad while stroking the cat as it lay on an adjacent chair with its head gently resting upon the leg of the child. This became indicative of the next several days. We would return home, Riyann would exit our vehicle to the welcoming meows of her newest friend. Our attempts to warn the child about the dangers the animal faced outside and her need to not become to attached fell on deaf ears. For her desire to care for her new friend superseded any thought of the animal one day not being there to welcome her home.

          Yesterday, that unfortunate day came. Although necessary and in the best interest of little mittens, a caring guest likewise fell in love with the truly loving animal. Speaking her desire to adopt Mittens and provide her with a stable home and our being unable to provide the same for the animal due to medical reasons within the family we graciously agreed, and Mittens began his new journey. As a side note, the guest has graciously kept us updated on the travels of Mittens and how he has adjusted well to his new surroundings.    

          Wondering how I would explain this to Riyann and hoping she would understand began overshadowing my thoughts.  As the day passed by the thought left my mind. As I continued with my daily routine I came to the point where I went to pick my daughters up from school. As I sat in the parking lot, watching RIyann play with her friends I noted that she seemed to be having a good day. Her smile was energizing as she spun on the playground equipment. Upon her entry into the vehicle she, with excitement, described how her class did well and as a reward didn’t have to take a test the following day but rather got to watch a movie. Her joy brought a little skip in my heart.

          As we approached our destination, I explained the normal post school regiment we would need to complete and watched as Riyann quickly opened her door. As I did the same, I observed Riyann ducking around looking in the bushes and under cars all the while calling out for her friend Mittens. At that moment my heart sank as I contemplated how to best explain the situation surrounding her friend. As I pulled her aside and began explaining she immediately dropped to her knees and the emotion flowed forth. Unfortunately, no amount of consoling would mend this broken heart.

Explaining to me that Mittens was her friend and the only friend she could sit with and talk to when she was having a “real bad day” elephant tears flowed forth. We sat for a time as I attempted to explain, and she countered my every word with tears and the logic of an eight -year- old we made it through. The evening consisted of many tears, hugs, and printing pictures of her and her little Mittens. Plans were devised to print her a t-shirt with a picture of she and Mittens on it and a portrait placed on her wall as the child began recovering from her loss. As my head hit my pillow on this night the thoughts of being a young man loosing my best friend, Barron due to disease flooded my mind, giving me a greater understanding of what Riyann was going through.

Today, although not forgotten, Mittens is no longer the cause of great sorrow. As we traveled to school we talked and joked as Lilli, Riyanns sister did her best to understand what her younger sister was going through. Choosing the song, we would listen to traveling to school RIyann chose the cat song, which in all reality consisted of nothing but “meows” giving their rendition of a popular pop classic as she and I laughed while her sister didn’t enjoy it as much, sitting, arms crossed in bewilderment over how quickly her sister and dad had lost their minds.

Life is filled with pain, hurt, and disappointment. Although a natural byproduct of our existence we must remind ourselves that showing humanity and compassion to others as they travel through the pain of loss is essential. To Riyann, her loss was devastating, and her world was seemingly coming to an end; just as mine was over forty years ago when my best friend Barron went to the vet to never return. Understanding that life goes on and we must cherish the moments we have is difficult, almost as difficult as seeing someone we love dearly experience pain. At times words are not sufficient and all we can do is reach out and provide a warm, caring shoulder. For it is through us that our younger generations will find direction, coping, and true compassion.