Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for March 11, 2017

Dad handled this really well.

No, he isn’t gone inside me!!

Imagine Calvin’s reaction if Dad died.

One of the more poignant ones. I get a catch in my throat.

Did Calvin want to have it as a pet?

Yes Calvin, you’ll always have those fond memories you can look back on.

I think a traumatic event like this would warrant a day off school to mourn

Next week, everyone has to get rabies shots because that’s what it died from

And he never will be. I once took a tadpole from a huge puddle after a month of rain and tried to raise it. It started to turn into a frog, but then died. I was Calvin’s age and everyone thought I was crazy to cry over it like that. I still remember, and it still hurts a little.

Haven’t Calvin’s parents ever heard of veterinarians? Why leave it in a box when a vet might have been able to save it?

I sort of felt that way when one of our dogs died of canine leukemia. One day it just couldn’t move, so we took it to the vet who diagnosed it. It died the next day. Poor creature never stood a chance. Even though you knew what was going to happen, it didn’t prevent feelings from creeping in.

I feel Calvin’s pain. It’s a tough life’s lesson, but a reality everybody who keeps company with cats and dogs must accept: Odds are, you’re going to be seeing them out of this world first.

I’m sitting here with our 15-year-old cat in my lap, and I understand this reaction. After each of our many cats has died, I have for several days “seen” him or her momentarily in the expected places throughout the house, and I can still recall their individual movements, voices, and even the feel of their fur. Each time one has gone, I’ve thought, “No more; it hurts too much to lose them”—especially because I never know if they understand how much we care for them. But, of course, we always end up rescuing another, although we keep the number down to two nowadays.

someone posted this about living with animals: you have many wonderful days and one really bad day.

To Calvin’s father, death builds character.

Calvin should have grown up on a farm.

the most impressive thing about this arc? Calvin’s parents actually acting like they care about Calvin – especially this one today!

From the Movie “The Wrath of Khan”: “He’s not really dead, Jim…not so long as we remember.”

It is nice to know that the little wart has a heart. I lost my beloved cat Yowlzer and my best human friend at the same time. I actually mourned Yowlzer almost as much as I did my best friend (no names).

I know how Calvin feels. I lost my mother about 10 weeks ago, and she’s still in my heart and in my thoughts almost constantly. In fact, Facebook has already started giving me reminders that her birthday is coming up this month (she’d have been 77 on March 30), and it feels weird knowing that I won’t be calling her on her birthday, Easter, Mothers’ Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, or my birthday in February anymore.

Would a subscription to Ranger Rick be a good or a bad thing for Calvin right now?

A day off to mourn? When I was in high school (1956) we lost three students when their auto went off the road and into a concrete post.

Next day, school went on as usual.

Wow. I didn’t see this coming. Very touching narrative. A different dimension to Calvin.

I have just this moment watched a Kangaroo documentary on TV (Just parts of it) and a little baby kangaroo called Daisy had to be put to sleep because she had too many injuries.

It was really upsetting. Especially when the man who cares for the Kangaroos put her still body in a hole he had dug to bury her.

xxx

I remember this sequence from at least several decades ago (I can’t read the year). We lost our 15 year old Chow-Retreaver mix ‘Kula Meli’ yesterday, black tongue and nose, the rest ‘Golden Honey’. Thankfully, she went very abruptly.

I was really touched by this sequence originally. This time around, my first thought was: “Aren’t there any veterinarians in their town?”

My best pal of 52 years and a woman who had been like my sister for 50 years died last year. Believe me, they’re still inside me, and as far as I can tell, always will be. I’ve counseled many about the loss of someone they loved, but the hurt doesn’t go away. Time is a very slow healer.