I Kept This Separate Because It's Important To Me...
This morning, I'd been asleep for only a few hours, when the phone rang. Before I opened my eyes, I knew it was Mir - and when I looked at the phone and saw her name on the phone, I knew she was calling to tell me about Patches.
I couldn't say much on the phone, because I was very upset - more upset than I thought I would be - after my boy, I didn't think I could be as upset again. But I am.
It's odd... I know rats are short lived... compared to say, a cat, or a dog, but I've never been prepared for the death of any of the ones I've known personally or gotten close to.
Click was the first. She was an amazing little rat. She waited for me to come 'home' and be there with her before she died. There was something very touching in that. Amazing... really. I still miss her. I look at her picture that is on my classroom wall - the one that Mir uses as her icon, and I talk to her often, when I need a 'girl's' perspsective on something.
The one I talk to the most, though, is Flash. He's on my classroom wall - he's my boy, even though he's gone. He would talk to me on the telephone, chittering, whoofling, making those little happy sounds... and telling me, "Mummy, my ear hurts." He had trouble with his ears. He waited for me as well... in fact he hung on like /crazy/ right until the end, and we were holding him when he finally let go. My sweet boy. I miss him.
And now Patches... one of the five boys that Flash made with Zip - one of the three we kept. So smart, and so cute... you could say to them, "Come on Boyz..." and they'd come running, and Patches would usually be one of the first to reach you - well at least with me. And you'd tell them "Kiss Kiss," and they'd do just that, then run away cutely. Then he got sick...
No one knows what happened, whether he had a cerebral even, or whether a tumour or something was pressing against his brain, but suddenly she couldn't do things any more, and then he didn't know which way was up. I spent a lot of time with him when I went home last... holding him and feeding him, and talking to him, telling him what a good boy he was, and watching him rustling around in his pentepus when it was time to hold his brothers and sisters. I felt very close to him. I still do, except that now he's gone.
I'm going to miss his sweet face, his little kisses, the intelligent way he would figure out how to get the fruit out of the baskets or take a treat and keep it to himself... I loved him very much.
He's with his daddy now.
I couldn't say much on the phone, because I was very upset - more upset than I thought I would be - after my boy, I didn't think I could be as upset again. But I am.
It's odd... I know rats are short lived... compared to say, a cat, or a dog, but I've never been prepared for the death of any of the ones I've known personally or gotten close to.
Click was the first. She was an amazing little rat. She waited for me to come 'home' and be there with her before she died. There was something very touching in that. Amazing... really. I still miss her. I look at her picture that is on my classroom wall - the one that Mir uses as her icon, and I talk to her often, when I need a 'girl's' perspsective on something.
The one I talk to the most, though, is Flash. He's on my classroom wall - he's my boy, even though he's gone. He would talk to me on the telephone, chittering, whoofling, making those little happy sounds... and telling me, "Mummy, my ear hurts." He had trouble with his ears. He waited for me as well... in fact he hung on like /crazy/ right until the end, and we were holding him when he finally let go. My sweet boy. I miss him.
And now Patches... one of the five boys that Flash made with Zip - one of the three we kept. So smart, and so cute... you could say to them, "Come on Boyz..." and they'd come running, and Patches would usually be one of the first to reach you - well at least with me. And you'd tell them "Kiss Kiss," and they'd do just that, then run away cutely. Then he got sick...
No one knows what happened, whether he had a cerebral even, or whether a tumour or something was pressing against his brain, but suddenly she couldn't do things any more, and then he didn't know which way was up. I spent a lot of time with him when I went home last... holding him and feeding him, and talking to him, telling him what a good boy he was, and watching him rustling around in his pentepus when it was time to hold his brothers and sisters. I felt very close to him. I still do, except that now he's gone.
I'm going to miss his sweet face, his little kisses, the intelligent way he would figure out how to get the fruit out of the baskets or take a treat and keep it to himself... I loved him very much.
He's with his daddy now.