A Little Perspective

Yesterday I posted a heart-felt bit about the death of our pet rat. Catie made the comment, "Do you really think anyone reads your blog anymore?" I expressed my own doubt but told her I just wrote it because it helped to write out my feelings.
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Well suprise, surprise...there are some of you who still read my blog and amazingly, were sensitive enough to post sweet comments about our grief process for a rat. Thank you. That really was sweet.
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Today perspective has returned. Talk of getting Pip, Michelle's rat, a new roommate has taken center stage, and we are all able to think of Lucy with a fond appreciation rather than the suprising depth of sadness yesterday. Who would think I could feel so sad about a rat.
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I remember years ago, we did a gift exchange with our family members in which we were required to purchase 4 items with only $5.00. The items must include something to wear, something to eat, something to play with, and something to read. We often resorted to very creative solutions in order to stay in the price range. My brother, who had drawn my name, bought a greeting card as my "something to read". It was a sympathy card, but what made it funny was it was a Pet Sympathy card. We all chuckled over the sticky sweet sentiments expressed as well as the thought someone would actually send a sympathy card for a pet!
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I was thinking about that card today and did a little google search, typing "Pet sympathy card" into google images. I chose only to browse the first 18 of about 128,000 matches. The image to the left is one such offerings. (I tried "Pet rat sympathy card" but that did not yield much -- apparently those who grieve for their rats to the degree they need a card are not a large enough market for the card makers.) Anyway, 128,000 matches? Amazing. Granted, Mother's Day Cards yielded 1,700,000 and Father's Day Cards yielded 1,300,000 (sorry dads), but still, 128,000 is nothing to sneeze at!
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Bottom line -- I'm feeling a lot better but I'm still musing over the big impact a furry little creature can have on a person's feelings! On the plus side, it must be good for the economy because the card industry would have a smaller market if that were not the case.

We Loved Lucy

I have really neglected the blogosphere for the last month and a half. My "honeymoon phase" with facebook has lasted longer than I would have thought -- probably due to the fact that I keep connecting with new "blasts from the past", additionally my little nephew in Thailand (not even a month old) has his own page where his pappa adds new photos and clever captains, and I joined Parking Wars and feel the need to compete with my sister. But today, a status update just did not cut it for expressing my thoughts.

Today Lucy died. I told my husband this morning, with tears streaming down my face, "The economy is in the toilet. People I love are in the hospital. Life is hard. And what am I crying about? I'm crying that my daughter is having to say goodbye to her pet rat." Granted, Lucy's influence in our life did go beyond that of the average pet rat.

Last September, Catie became the proud owner of Rattatouile, a rat who's owner was ready to no longer be a rat owner. It was the perfect way for Catie to try out pet ownership for herself. She'd been lobbying for a hamster, but this deal was too good not to give a try. So Rattatouile joined our family, but it wasn't long before she was renamed, Lucy. About a month into rat ownership, Catie was enjoying her pet so much she decided to write an expository speech on pet rats. I know that choosing a topic that is inspiring and interesting to the writer is key in maintaining enthusiasm for a speech that will probably be given repeatedly over the course of several months, and therefore I thought the topic was a good one for Catie. I warned her, however, that it would probably not be a speech that would appeal to her judges to any great degree.

So with Lucy as her inspiration, Catie combined personal experience with research on the web to write a 10 minute speech about pet rats. She tried out many of the ideas she read about, including making a pinata and hammock for Lucy as well as doing a photo shoot with her. To my chagrin, Lucy's Christmas picture turned out much better than our family one. Catie's speech included large 20 x 30 inch boards which provided visuals for her words. As with many other things, my prediction that judges would not warm to a speech about pet rats proved to be wrong. Not only did they like it, they awarded her 1st place in the first qualifying tournament of the season, held in San Diego, which qualified her to give the same speech at the National competition in June.

Through Catie's speech, her love for Lucy was shared at tournaments, a young-at-heart gathering, elementary book club, Piner-Olivet elementary school, and the fair. At home, her enjoyment of Lucy turned the whole family into pet rat enthusiasts -- something I would not have thought possible. We all enjoyed Lucy's gentle and loving personality and I took great satisfaction in being able to lull her to sleep by scratching behind her ears.

It was also endearing to see Catie take good care of her pet and as Lucy became increasingly weaker in this past week, to see Catie once again doing online research and applying her learning to make Lucy as comfortable as possible. As she sat today participating in her online Spanish class and stroking her failing pet, it was really hard to keep the perspective...it's only a rat!

Later today the girls buried her in a little container lined with one of Catie's shirts Lucy had chewed up. A tissue piñata and one of her favorite treats, a banana chip, were also tucked in for good measure. After the burial, both girls scattered some flowers.

I know -- she was only a rat. But she was a rat that brought about some really great things in our family...inspiration, opportunity, responsibility, and caring. A rat is a pretty small life in the big picture, but the things that she inspired are pretty big after all.

We are going to miss our little Lucy!