A Short But Whiffle-Nosed Friendship

Picture by Andrea Gilbey

Not so long ago, my friend Ginny Fleming internetduced me to her friend Andrea Gilbey, and Andrea internetduced me to “her boys,” fancy rats Humphrey and Dizzy. Humphrey was already failing, and died shortly after I “met” him, but I enjoyed stories of they boys’ hi-jinx and pictures of Dizzy, like the one above, up until yesterday.

Yesterday, Andrea announced that Dizzy, that snuggly, whiffle-nosed scamp, had also passed.

Rats, I’ve learned, only live for two or three years, which seems to make them an ideal short-term commitment. But here’s the catch: There’s no such thing as a short-term commitment. If you love, it doesn’t matter what the life expectancy is of the person or critter you love. I, who still mourn the passing of our goldfish and dojo loach, tell you this.

I only knew Dizzy for a few short months, but his passing leaves a hole in my heart. But, as is the way with loved people and critters, the hole is filled with the happiness of having had the chance to know him at all.

Thanks for sharing him with us, Andrea!

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character meets an animal they consider unattractive until closer acquaintance.

MA