In Memoriam

Jinx ("Hijinx")

January 25, 2008 - October 1, 2009

I wish that I could say that I was surprised to see you go, sweetie. A year and eight months seems too short a life for such a wonderful rat. In a way we were both glad that you were hurt in the end, because it gave us so much time with you. We got to see how much you loved us, and depended on us for comfort, and how sweet you were toward the end. We hope that what hurt you was a sign of something that we could do nothing about, rather than the cause of your demise. We hope that you didn't suffer too much, and that when you did we were able to help in some way. We hope we're not just imagining that it looked like your brother and sister were sleeping beside you when you went, and I think you would've been glad to know that even though sometimes they bullied you, how upset they were was how I knew you were gone. If there was something we could've done, then we're both profoundly sorry. It's hard to imagine for other people, I'm sure, that we could love something so small and so short-lived so much. We hope that if Rat Heaven exists, you're in your cube eating yogies and strawberry-flavored whipped yogurt. If not, we at least hope that your time here was happy and comfortable. I'm sure your little rat heart, which was meek and affectionate but which was never burdened by the thought that every living thing must die, could never have fathomed how much we miss you.