Pendleton had died. It was cold outside; nevertheless, a tiny hole was dug under a mugo pine bush and Pendleton was wrapped in tissue and carefully held. Pendleton, a loved little hamster, would be buried where other gerbils and hamsters had already been buried.
Before he was placed in the ground, each of us went around in a circle and said something we remembered about Pendleton – his soft fur, his pretty color, how he’d cuddle, how he’d scamper, and how he’d grab on to a cracker so strongly with his teeth that his clawed feet would come off the table as we held the cracker aloft, doing a funny, dangling dance in the air. It was cold, and some in the circle had no coats, but we stayed.
Then we sang a hymn and said a prayer. Which song—A Mighty Fortress, Abide With Me, God Be With You Till We Meet Again—I don’t remember. But I remember the peace from the singing and the prayer, and the reverence and love directed toward one of God’s creatures. Then my son put an ever-burning LED light on the bush to mark his burying place. Every life deserves honoring.