Ode to Cloudy

A few months after we moved to Colorado, Talie, our resident animal lover, adopted a Teddy Bear hamster and named him Cloudy. He was a good little hamster - pretty calm and hardly bit anyone, but like any pet, unfortunately, his time on earth did come to an end. Of course Talie was distraught, so we held a little funeral service for him in our back yard. Not trying to be insensitive to the loss of Cloudy, but it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. First, we scheduled a time that Dad could be there to lead the ceremony and dig a proper hole. Then the girls created a cute and very comfortable coffin for Cloudy to rest in (with his favorite wheel).
Talie wrote the sweetest letter to Cloudy to bury with him, and Dallin sang a solo of "I am a Child of God" (not sure what that has to do with hamsters, but it was very cute to watch him sing). Then Benson said a prayer, we said our good byes and with a few scoops of dirt, the funeral was over.
Here is the letter Talie wrote Cloudy:
Dear Cloudy,
I love you sooooo much. I miss you. You were so soft and white just like a cloud that's why I named you cloudy. You were so sweet, kind and I enjoyed playing with you on the Barbie house. I hope you loved me and thought I was a good owner. I picked you from the store because I knew you were different. Today is the day you died (Apr. 27, 2009). Tomorrow we are going to bury you. I have been crying for 1 hour straight and will probably cry myself to sleep! I promise I will never forget about you. Just remember you're the best hamster anyone could ever ask for. I hope you're in a good place.
I love you soooooo much.
Love, Talie someone who really, really loves you.

. . And now, a little over a year later, Talie has a new hamster, Macy, and has been able to find happiness again.