It gets easier, but you never stop missing them.
Lissa, that is so true.
I still miss one of the first rabbits I ever had, Thumper. She was anondescript brown 'mutt' rabbit, but she was my best friend when I was a teen. I was 15 years old when she came into my life, and she lived in my bedroom for the first3 years or so, used a litterbox and slept in my bed with me every night. She was the most gentle, yet curious, rabbit...getting into things she shouldn't, running circles around everyone when she was loose, stretching out lazily in the sun on hot summer afternoons. She loved digging tunnels under the lawn in the summer, and got into my vegetable garden so many times I finally wound up planting most of it for her.
She was stolen from me once, when she was about 5 years old. By that time I had a hutch for her in the backyard, and one day when I came home the door to the hutch was open and she was gone. I knew I hadn't left it open, and I also knew Thumper...she would never leave the yard on her own. I was absolutely heartbroken. So one day, almost a week after her disappearance, I called the radio station as a last resort and pleaded for them to announce that a rabbit was missing in that area of town. The DJ was kind enough to do so, and within an hour I received a call from a man who told me he'd seen some kids in his area of town toting around a rabbit...he knew those children - they had a pretty bad reputation - and so when he heard thatmy rabbitwas missing, he took a shot and called. As soon as my boyfriend got off work we went to the address he gave me and knocked on the door...and sure enough, there was Thumper, hopping around in their apartment. I called to her and she came right over. I can't tell you how relieved I was, or how much that man's kindness meant to me.
Thumper lived on for almost two more years until she finally succumbed to cancer.I buried her (through tears that I thought would never stop) at the side of the house where I lived, and planted flowers over her grave.And for all these years that have passed - it's been almost 26 years now since she left - I've never stopped thinking about her.
Hugs and shared tears,
~Di
:hug:
