Sam the Opossum died

I was just telling the kids,

"You know, since they haven't emailed us yet about the opossum, maybe that means he's not dead yet."

But today, I received this email from the Ohio Wildlife Center.

Hi J. I am reporting back to you, per your request, regarding the Virginia opossum that you brought to our hospital on 4/11/08. Unfortunately, we simply did not get the opossum in time to successfully treat it and it died. Thank you for your efforts in bringing him in to us.

This phrase 'get the opossum in time' is going to haunt me now. Subhanallah, animals are living things just like us. We, the humans, who are endowed with minds to think should care for them when we are able to. In the beginning, I was apathetic about the opossum, that is, until the kids brought it home in that box. Allah had sent down 99 parts of His mercy, and we are responsible for spreading that mercy on earth.

We didn't have the van that Thursday. I emailed hubby about it. He said he couldn't and to just inform the Buckeye Village staff about it. He emailed them. Then at 12 pm he had to take S to her class. They came home at around 3 p.m. Surely we could have done something about Sam?

Friday morning we didn't have the van either. Not until after my doctor's appointment, which was when we headed out to the Wildlife Center. It was apparently too late.

Qadr Allah. Inna lillaahi wa inna ilaihi raaji'oon. May Allah forgive us for any neglect on our part. Ameen.