The Gopher

One day last week we were driving to Matthew's school. I saw a groundhog (I call them gophers, thanks to Winnie-the-pooh). There were no other cars around, so I slowed down so Matthew could see it. I kind of thought to myself "I hope I don't see that groundhog dead on the road later." Well two days later, sure enough, in that exact same spot, was a dead gopher right on the yellow line. In my own sad reaction, I said something about it and told Matthew what I had seen, not really thinking about what he reaction might be. The poor kid started balling (tears, snot, red face and all), so upset. He was saying things like, "I hope the gopher is okay. Will it be okay, Mommy? I think it will be okay." I felt SO horrible!! I almost had to pull over and give him a hug. Then he got very worried that it was THE gopher on Winnie-the-Pooh...luckily I convinced him that it wasn't THE gopher! Bad mommy!! I forget how sensitive he can be!