RIP “Cheese” – Life Lessons

During our weekly therapy Skype call with our son, he told us some sad news. His first adopted calf, “Cheese” died. We were shocked. We knew from the previous week’s call that “Cheese” was sick and not wanting to eat, and yet he had been doing a bit better. This news hit us like a ton of bricks.

Cheese was “given” to our son to take care of as part of the experiential learning opportunity called the Calf Rescue Program at Discovery Ranch. It’s a wonderful chance for the kids to learn to care for, have empathy for and have big time responsibilities. The boys feed the newborn calves, no matter the weather and the calves depend on the boys for survival. There are so many lessons to learn: empathy, caring, service and thinking about something other than yourself.  Many of the boys may have attachment issues as well as others things like: abandonment, loss and grief. This unique program can help with many of those issues, too.

We met “Cheese” at our Parent Days visit, last October, when he was just a week old. My son fed him a bottle three times a day. As “Cheese” grew, he was moved to the junior lot. During this time, our son’s “job” at the Ranch was Feeding Manager. He was in charge of filling the bottles with special formula, with the help of the other boys. They also had to make sure the animals had water, hay and clean pens and hutches.

Unfortunately, there were other calves that died recently, too. But life goes on, and our son recently received his second calf. Hopefully this calf will be stronger and more able to survive. Life is full of lessons when you care for living beings. Loss is one of the toughest of all.

We know our son did a good job caring for “Cheese”. RIP “Cheese”. We will miss you. You felt like part of the family. You even made the back of our Christmas card this year.

With a sad heart,

WARRIOR MOM