Babies

Awww, my babies.

I used to have mice as pets, and that wasn't very long ago ... maybe two years. It was sort of an effort to make up my lack of experience with pets in my childhood (I had a pet SNAIL as a child ... but then it ran away before I could even name it). I had 13 mice at one point, as I recall. Hey, they're not all the same. They had their own personalities, seriously.

Olivia
Charlotte
Abigail -Abby
Annabelle -Annie
Amelia -Frodo
Isabella -Izzy
Victoria -Torey
Scarlette -Pinky
One-Eared Willie
Jaime - Little Boy
Patrick
Jackyln - Jacky
Elizabeth - Lizzie

Yeah, I went a little crazy.

My first two mice were punks. They bit me everytime I put my hand anywhere near them. But then again, they had a miserable time at the pet store, as the owner of the store just tossed them around like food (literally! I rescued them from being eaten by snakes). They were Charlotte and Olivia. I loved those names, and I gave them to my first real pets. That was in April of 2004.

But the trouble of having mice as pets is that you really don't have to limit yourself on how many you have. Unlike cats or dogs, if you have too many of them, it just doesn't work out. Mice ... well, they're mice, and they're small, so it's ok as long as you get another cage.

So because my first mice weren't so friendly, I got myself another three. And, boy, I didn't know what trouble I was in for. These 3 were definitely pretty: Annabell was black and white, kinda like a milk cow; Frodo had long silver fur; and Abigail was just grey, but cute anyway. And all three were BULLIES. They terriorized the Original Two to death ... almost.

Between so many mice and so many memories, Izzy lived the longest and I actually liked her the most ... and it's hard not to! She would respond to my calls, would climb up my hand when I offered, and was just sooo friendly. She ran away and never came home -- and I never could find her. That was the first time I cried in front of my mom and brother as an adult. Yep, all for Izzy.

I miss my babies today, and all the memories that go with them, McKenna, Sam, my old, tiny apartment, their smell (stinky!), Petsmart/Petco Runs, sickness and death, little boxes that enclosed their bodies before I buried them, flowers, bites, sunshine, ....

... just like how sunny it is today.