Well, we knew it was only temporary. Just a few months ago, a friend of mine had mentioned her son had a hamster that needed a home and I volunteered. Frankie, the hamster, came to live with us. If you recall from my post introducing Frankie, she was "old" when we got her. I had researched a little bit and discovered their average lifespan was only 2-3 years. I explained this to the kiddos and they agreed we would just take care of her until her time came.
Apparently, her time came during the night on Monday. When I went to check on her Tuesday morning, as I always check to see if she's alive in her little cave, I noticed she was face-first in her food dish (which is actually a cleaned-out tuna can). She looked so cute hunched over the edge of the can, so soft and chubby. So I whistled at her, she didn't move. I strummed the cage, she didn't move. Uh-oh. I opened the lid and touched her. Oh, shoot, she's dead.
So I broke it to the kids and in true Wilhoit-all-of-our-pets-die-prematurely-fashion, Lane immediately asked when we could get another one...although I must admit for about three seconds, I thought he might really cry. Come to find out, his real problem is that it's his share week at school and he was planning on taking Frankie for show-and-tell Thursday or Friday.
Someone on Facebook said something along the lines of, "at least she had a good nursing home or retirement home." Yes, that is a good way to look at it. We were just caring for her in her elderly years until her time came. She has been the easiest pet we've ever had. And you know, we've already got the cage, food, exercise ball and stuff, hamsters aren't terribly expensive, so you may want to be watching for a new arrival announcement soon.
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