Sorry I've not replied to any of you guys! I've been working a lot lately and am pretty tired when I'm off work. I haven't been feeling that well lately and have been having some cardiac issues the past few days- kind of scary!
Anyway, Mary Ellen, your set up is beautiful. Those wooden boxes are just lovely. The carvings are so nice and I like how you personalized each pet's area. Yesterday I saw a beautiful bamboo picture frame at work (hooray for working at a place that gives you never ending ideas of what to spend your money on!), I want to buy one tomorrow and print out a big picture of Tallulah to put in it, then hang it on the wall in the living room. The frame was at least 11 by 14. I will possibly use this picture, since it's one of my favorites and the one I find myself looking at the most:
This was when she was 9 weeks old, just a week after I got her. For our first couple days together, she was so nervous and always ran away from me and would try to get away when I held her, but just a week later she would lay on her back like this so trusting. She amazed me with how quickly she adjusted.
Jenk, I think what you said is spot on. I typed this in your thread about your bunnies, and I think it's worth putting here too: After Tallulah's death, I've asked myself if I would have taken her as an 8 week old baby if I'd known how soon she would have died. If I just knew she was going to die at 7 months, I would have backed off and got a bunny elsewhere. But if I'd also known how much LOVE we would have shared with each other, and how much I would come to adore her, I think I would have taken her anyway. The amount of love we crammed into five months was worth it, even though her death has broken my heart. I love her life more than I hate her death, so I could never regret having her. My theory is that even though I will always be worrying about my bunnies and they WILL die sooner or later, they fill my heart with so much love and happiness that I'd rather have to live with the pain of their illnesses and deaths than the emptiness of not having them at all.
It feels like it's been soooo long since I held her, and I would give anything to hold her again, pet her soft fur and kiss her little noggin, or see her running across the floor getting into things. Even now I catch myself glancing in her cage or looking at Rory's cage, part of me expecting to see her sitting there. One of her favorite places was right by Rory's cage because she liked him so much, even though he didn't like her. In fact, the afternoon of the day she died, when I opened her cage and saw she was so ill, she hopped out of her cage and ran over to sit by him. Rory never knew what he was missing, though I'm glad he doesn't have to handle the heartbreak of losing her companionship. I wonder if he does miss her at all. But at the same time, I'm sad that she never got the bunny friendship she clearly wanted. If she were still alive, I would have started bonding her and Skyler this week since it's been 6 weeks after his neuter. Skyler is a very loving bunny, just like her, and I'll be glad when we have another little bunny to be his friend.
My heart absolutely yearns for another little Holland Lop girl, a baby. Not just because babies are cute and fluffy, but in some way I think having another baby girl bunny will help me heal more. I thought of Tallulah as a baby her entire life because she was so little and cute, and I think "starting over" and getting to experience having a little Holland Lop that grows into an adult will be soothing, since I never got to see Tallulah grow up. Does that make sense? The heart wants what the heart wants.
I think I want to call my next bunny Anastasia Mabel. I think of Tallulah and the new bunny as being very connected, and Anastasia means "reborn". As ridiculous as this sounds, I "asked" God if maybe he would consider sending her back to me in the form of my new rabbit. I know, that sounds crazy... I'm not actually expecting the new rabbit to be her, and am not expecting her to behave the same as Tallulah, but what can I say? Anyway, I also think Anastasia is a very pretty name, and we can call her Bunanna! We considered naming Tallulah "Annabel" instead so we could call her Bunanna
. Mabel because it's similar to Tallulah's middle name, Maesie, and I think it would be cute to give all my girl bunnies matching middle names. We can call her Anna Mae, how cute is that? I also like Zipporah, Hannelore, Tabitha (which Tallullah was named for about 4 hours) and a couple others though, so we'll see when the time comes. I've always liked thinking about names and trying to find the perfect one.
Well, I need to think about heading to bed! Thanks for reading :hug: