- things change in an instant
- you, or anyone else, can go much farther than you think
- just when you think there is no hope, you find it again
Romeo and John and in California visiting John's parents. Before they left Ro had a lot of trepidation. He didn't want to leave me (because 9 year olds LOVE their mamas), and he didn't want to leave Hammy, his beloved hamster. He must have asked me 100 times if I was SURE I could handle feeding him, playing with him, and talking to him. I think Ro had serious doubts, lets put it that way.
Hammy is ok....I mean, if you are ok with petting a rodent, which I've done now, many times.
So it was night #1, and the nightly ritual is to take Hammy from his cage, put him in this little pet arena that Romeo has, and "play" with him. Since they are nocturnal, he likes to leave Hammy to his sleeping during the day, otherwise he is "grumpy". Every night though, he religiously takes that hamster out, plays with him, watches him pull poop out of his butt with glee, and showers him with love. So Gia held me to the promise that we'd do the same ritual. It was hard because it was 8:45, I was tired, and really I just wanted to watch a movie and go to bed. A promise is a promise though.
We enter Romeo's room, go to grab Hammy and....no Hammy. At first I thought I was just missing him, they burrow into their bedding and Ro likes to put in a TON of bedding. I shook it, poked around (gently of course), but no Hammy. Then I started freaking out because I'm thinking Hammy is somewhere buried in this bedding--DEAD. I still remember the story of my sister's kid's hamster, who died of a heart attack on the spot because the dog barked at him.
Long story shorter (but not much), I take Hammy's cage apart, go thru ALL the disgusting, smelly bedding and there is nothing. He's gone. Vanished. The cage is a complete pile of junk, and unless you connect the thing perfectly, I suppose it's possible that there might be a gap somewhere, which I think must have happened when Romeo said goodbye to him in the morning. All I know is,Houdini got out somehow.
So then Gia and proceeded to search for Hammy. We got out flashlights, and looked under every crevice on the top floor of the house where Romeo's room is. Everywhere. Nothing. I'm near tears now because all I can imagine is that this tiny thing is gone, forever, and Romeo will be crushed and never trust me again. I envision finding a stiff Hammy in a corner one day, dehydrated to death. Or worse, wake up to Milo have used Hammy as a chew toy.
I offer Lucia and Ava $50 if they find Hammy. They looked for 45 seconds and give up. I set up food traps in every room on the top floor. I googled "missing hamsters" and texted a couple of friends I knew were rodent experienced. I'm essentially frantic at this point.
I start to organize a plan in my head to find a look alike hamster and never tell Romeo, but I'm playing out all the scenarios in my head and I can't see how it will work. It's doomsday for me. I finally go to sleep at around 11:30, exhausted and stressed.
It was a fitful sleep, so not surprisingly I actually DID hear the vibration of my silenced phone at 3:30 a.m. and picked it up. Lucia says in a quiet voice, "I found Hammy". So I go down two flights of stairs to Lucia's room, which is the farthest away from Romeo's as possible. Down two flights and on the opposite side of the house. I walk into her room, and sitting on the edge of the sofa is Hammy, upright on his haunches (which, fun fact, is made up largely by their super big hamster nuts...no joke, they are huge, and I had to google it to make sure he wasn't dying of some weird disease).
Another miracle? He actually let me grab him, and I was able to get him back upstairs, rebuild his cage (not terribly fun to do in the middle of the night), and lock his hamster butt back in.
So, there you have it, my hamster saga that let to the very key life lessons above.
Signed, ME {lv}
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