in memoriam

May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields, and, until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Beloved Beaver Head, from the day we brought you home from Petco, already disembodied, we could tell that you were something special. Not like the other gaudy toys whose showy displays faded so quickly amid gnashed teeth and thrashing head, you have been a true and faithful friend to Cricket. You were there for her when she wanted to wake us up at dawn with authority (squeaky-SQUEAKY, squeaky-SQUEAKY), when she wanted to negotiate a toy sharing accord (who could forget the historic Navy Blue Sock for Beaver Head Treaty of '07?), and when she needed a pillow on which to rest her weary head. To our complete astonishment, you lasted MORE THAN A YEAR. Alas, today your number was up, dear Beaver Head. Who knows why these things happen? (Well, actually, in this case we do know -- it was because Cricket hated it when you looked her in the eye, and you did that a lot today. Badly played, Beaver Head!) All we can do is look to the future and hope that we are someday lucky enough to find another friend like you; if not, we will be forced to take Cricket on walks or maybe up her daily dose of Benadryl.