I read this story ages ago, and when Lazarus and Blizz passedaway it reminded me, and I eventually found it. Hope y'all likeit. - Jan
A story from the Rainbow Bridge
Adapted from a story by Barb.
The bunny arrived at the Rainbow Bridge, and many rabbits rushed up togreet him. He braced himself, expecting a fight, but these were thefirst animals that binkied and kissed him instead of attacking him. Itwas beautiful here, and everyone was nice to him. None of them had beenborn in a bad place like he had, none of them had been neglected andleft to die in the cold and all alone, because they were less thanperfect, and had a torn ear and were not cute.
They explained why they were waiting... for their humans who lovedthem. "What is love?" the bunny asked, and God let him go back toearth, and find out.....
Warm, and dark, he squeezed in with the others and waited for the dayto be born. Scared, he held back as long as he could, but finally gotdragged out, by his hind feet. Hands without fur held him gently andrubbed him dry and opened his mouth and guided him to a warm nipplewith milk. He didn't get a good hold on it, because one of his big fatbrothers pushed him aside. The human hand moved the other bunny toanother nipple and held his body, so he could drink. "Ahhh, that'sbetter," he thought, and drank until his jaws got tired and he curledup to sleep next to his warm hairy mother. "I remember this," hemused... Too bad I'll have to grow up to be left out in the cold andrain to die. I remember what it's like, being unwanted." he thoughtsadly.
That night, he crawled up to his mother and tried to nurse, but he keptgetting pushed off to the side. When they were full, the big brothersand sisters got their bottoms cleaned and he finally latched on to anipple, but the human hands weren't there to hold him up, and therewasn't any milk in any of the nipples, anyway. He was weak and so tiny.It was even hard to stay upright, and he fell over on his back andcouldn't right himself.... but suddenly the human hands were there,holding him up and putting a rubber thing in his mouth. It didn't tasteor feel like mother, but it was warm and made the ache in his tummy goaway.
He was having trouble breathing ... His lungs weren't fully developed,because he had waited too long to join the others in the womb, as hetook one last run around at the Rainbow Bridge. He could feel theheartbeat of the human, who had laid him on her chest and covered himwith a soft cloth, keeping him warm, and soothing his boney body withgentle circling touches. He kept thinking of his new friends who hadbeen so nice to him at the bridge and asked God if he could go back.God said "Yes, but not just yet. You wanted to experience Love. "So forseveral hours (seemed like days but it was dark and he couldn't tellwhat time it was), the human supplemented his feeding and let himexperience the warmth of his mother's body and tongue, and the pile ofwarm soft littermates.
He got weaker, and the human held him more often, leaving thelittermates to sleep in a pile while he got caressed, kissed, and gotto listen to the heartbeat which was strong and loving. Finally Godcame back and asked, "are you ready to come back to the RainbowBridge?" "Yes, he responded, with a little sorrow, because the humandidn't want to let him go, and was crying. He pushed the air out of hislungs and floated back to the Rainbow Bridge and looked back at thehuman, who was still crying and holding the limp body that he hadborrowed for his trip. "Thank you, God," he said. "Love is beautiful,and I will wait near the Bridge and let the human know, when shearrives, that I loved her, too."
