Farewell...

As much as it hurts the already throbbing hearts, it is time for the five of us to bid adieu.

With much reluctance and sadness, we all said our goodbyes to dear Hammy, the adorable hamster that became our friend during the days of loneliness after the demise of our dearest.

I had never published the post I wrote about the arrival of our new family members (the hamsters) as it was a rather sad episode. I did not want to attract more than the unnecessary attention we were receiving and allowed the children a little bit more privacy.

It all started with the request from Abang Z. Being typically children, mine love animals and long to have every single creature on earth as a pet(the last request from Little D was a bearded dragon!). Their late father used to give in to their requests for he too was very passionate with animals. While I squealed or warned them that I never wanted to be a part of the responsibility to care for the animals (i.e. cleaning their cages!), my late husband took care of them all as promised. Through the span of approximately 7 years, we had had a collection of rabbits, birds, tarantulas, hamsters, white mice (yes, euuuuww!!), fish, chickens, ducks and terrapins. Goodness knows what else I may have forgotten to list down here.

Getting back to the matter at hand, after the departure of my husband in October 2007, the children began to ask for pets.

Mama, I need a friend...I need a pet. Abang Z opened up one day (notice the use of the word "need"!)

But darling, you have the four of us already! Don't you think that we're enough company for you? Am I not your friend?

No, you're my MOTHER! You're not my friend. I need a friend... H is my brother and the others are my siblings. It's not the same. I need a friend!

And the whining began. I admit that his reasons did make me choke a little. We were going through a difficult time of bereavement and healing that I somehow felt that it was my duty to lift my boy's spirits up.

We went to the pet shop down the road and agreed to purchase a suitable pet or two for the children. In this case, it was for each of the older boys and they were using their own money received from family and friends. The shop assistant suggested the Syrian hamsters although the children had their eyes on the Dwarf hamsters. The Syrian hamsters were bigger than the Dwarf Hamsters, but were less sociable. This simply meant that if you purchased the Dwarf hamsters, you could place both of them in the same cage, as opposed to the Syrian Hamsters who would fight with one another. However, the Dwarf hamsters are mighty fast, deeming it unsuitable for children as they might disappear from your hands before you know it.

We thus settled for the Syrian hamsters - one for Abang Z and another for Abang H, complete with two sets of cages. They were both males and extremely cute. The boys were very vigilant looking after the two but surely, it wasn't for long... Soon they were tipping each other to do their chores!

When we went back home for a short holiday in 2008, we left each of them with different friends. White stayed with a loving family up north while Hammy lived with some close friends in the city. Upon our return, I thought it was a hassle to drive up to collect White. After a little convincing, Abang H decided that he was ready to give White away. Unfortunately, White passed on approximately a year ago - most probably due to suffocation or heart attack by a group of wild children who attacked it in sheer fondness the night before. And thus, we were left with Hammy. Our dear, dear Hammy.

For the past few weeks, I had noticed that Hammy wasn't his old self. He no longer hid in his green plastic cubicle of a house and was somewhat 'different'. His sheltered house became his 'toilet' and he preferred to sleep on a stack of wood-shavings where we could see him. I had warned the children that the time was nearing and everyone was well aware of the fact that the life expectancy of a hamster is only about 2 -3 years.

Is he dead?

After two years, it was time for Hammy to leave us. Farewell little rodent!