Daddy Didn't Mean It, Empathy For A Stranger Options

[Lucy1Josie2]

Hello, everyone --

I don't know if it's appropriate for me to post this or not, but someone I've only heard about from others is suffering the loss of his dog, and I can't stop thinking about him, this story is so incredibly sad. My mom told me about this the other night and afterwards, I hung up the phone and just cried and cried for this poor man.

Frank "met" my mom online after being "introduced" to her by his neighbor, who was a co-worker of my mom's presumably trying to get my mom a little ****** action. Anyway, Frank and mom started emailing back and forth, and he told mom all kinds of cute things about his little dog. He and his now-deceased wife had gotten little Cricket and raised him together, and now that his wife was gone, it had just been him and Cricket together. He had even put together a little booklet that he sent to mom, with some pictures of Cricket and some lovely poems he'd collected over time about dogs and the deep bond they share with their human companions. I even borrowed the booklet from mom, so I could copy the poems, they were so beautiful. Eventually, Mom and Frank met face-to-face, there was no real chemistry, and their correspondence kind of petered out.

Mom found out the following from the "matchmaking neighbor/coworker":

Cricket loved to run out in Frank's fenced-in back yard and chase squirrels, as many of us can relate to (through our pets, of course, hopefully ...), and one day a few weeks ago, a certain squirrel was not going to back down from Cricket. It kept leaping at Cricket, Cricket kept trying to leap back, and because it was starting to look ugly, Frank got a baseball bat to try to separate the two. He meant to use the bat to push the squirrel back so he could grab Cricket and take him inside, but somehow the bat went the wrong way, and it hit and killed Cricket instantly, instead.

I think about him every day now. He loved, loved, loved that dog. That dog was just the world to him, especially since his wife died. I just feel so badly for him. I can't imagine being him, can't imagine what he's been going through. Apparently, he didn't open the curtains or leave the house for a few days, he was so devastated. He had Cricket cremated.

I wonder if we could all just spare a thought for Frank and Cricket. Thanks.

Michelle K.