I think I was around 13 when I got my first rabbit, a little grey(blue? not even sure any more) Dutch who I called Brandy. She was an impulse purchase; a local pet store had aquired some tiny bunnies - probably no more than 5 or 6 weeks old - and were selling them for next to nothing. I went home and asked my dad if I could get a rabbit, and - here's where the story gets fuzzy - I swear I heard him say he didn't care. However...the next evening when he came home from work, and I had my new little bunny safely tucked away in my room, my sister (who swore she heard our dad say 'No *:nonono:* way are you bringing another animal into this house' when I'd initially asked) blurted out that I was 'hiding' a rabbit in my room. I was promptly ordered to get rid of it immediately...but of course I didn't. For the next several days I avoided my dad at all costs, and would spend hours in my room with Brandy, cuddling her and praying that I wouldn't have to give her up. Well, my scheme worked, as my dad finally gave up telling me *it* had to go. Unfortunately, Brandy wasn't with me for very long...she died just a month or so later, and the vet offered to do a free necropsy. He discovered she'd been riddled with internal parasites, which wasn't surprising, given the reputation of that particular pet store - most of their animals came from 'puppy mills' and backyard breeders. Needless to say, my heart was broken.
Several months later I did get another rabbit...his name was Billy (Billy Jack Rabbit). I gave him that name as he looked much more like a wild rabbit than he did a domestic one...his body had that lean, lanky appearance similar to a Belgian hare. He was a wonderful fellow, full of spit and vinegar and always getting into trouble (it's a wonder our house never burned down, or he was never electrocuted, given all the wires he managed to chew through). I had Billy for a couple of years, until he passed on...I never did find out what happened to him, but most likely it was something akin to stasis. Back then, no one - even the vets in the area - knew very much about rabbits. Only seasoned rabbit breeders had any real 'rabbit savvy', and it wasn't until a few years later I was to even meet any of them.
After Billy came Thumper. Honestly, I can't even recall now where she came from; probably a pet store somewhere. She looked much like Anna, only quite a bit larger...Thumper was probably a good 10-12 lbs in her prime. She was very special to me, and until Raph came along many, many years later, she was one of the most precious of my rabbits. She lived in my bedroom but explored the house, running up and down the stairs of her own free will. She slept with me in my bed at night, starting out every evening beside me under the covers, then - sometime after I'd drifted off - making her way to my pillow, where she would stretch out to her full length and remain until it was time to get up. More often than not I would be greeted in the mornings with a few bunny toes dangling in my face.
Thumper moved to an outdoor cage a few years later. She had been out there for a year or so when one day...I was 21 by then, I think...she disappeared. Someone had entered the backyard and had stolen Thumper from her cage. I was so distraught, sick to my stomach over the thoughts of what someone might have done to her, and I searched everywhere for her. I called the vets, went door to door, scoured every field and under every shrub...but she was gone.
A week passed and I finally decided to try one last thing. I called the local radio station (a huge effort for me to do, I was so shy!) and asked them to announce that a rabbit was missing. So the radio DJ did (trying his best not to laugh whilst announcing it...after all, who kept a rabbit as a pet?), and to my surprise, someone contacted them and gave them his number. So I called the number and the man at the other end told me he had spotted some kids toting a large brown rabbit around his neighbourhood for the past few days, and he'd been suspicious of them - apparently they didn't have the best reputation. He gave me their address, and as soon as my boyfriend got off work, we went to check it out. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but still remember my heart was pounding as we knocked on the door...and when it opened, there she was...my Thumper, sitting in the middle of their living room. She came running over to the door right away, I scooped her up and no one said a word, and we took her home.
Thumper lived on for another couple of years until she finally succumbed to cancer when she was almost 8 years old. I believe she waited for me before she died, as I'd been at work...I knew she'd been sick, but didn't know just how close to death she was. When I got home something told me to go to her right away, and so I did...and when I opened her cage door she was lying on her side. She looked up at me with her soft brown eyes, I cradled her head in my hands, and a moment later she just faded away. And once again, only even moreso this time, my heart was broken.
I also began raising rabbits while I still had Thumper. At first I had a few Hollands, or I would take in a rescue or two, but then I was introduced to the Polish by a senior rabbit breeder. I fell in love with the breed, and I began showing them - on a very small scale - for the next few years. Life intervened however, when I got divorced and became a single mom, and it would be a great many years before I would ever have a rabbit in my life again.
I have always loved animals. Probably part of the reason was because my mother loved cats, and she seemed to have that certain 'way' with them...as though she could talk to them and they would know what she was saying, and vice versa. But I think the main reason why animals in general have been such a huge part in my life is because I grew up in an abusive home, and also grew up with a lot of pain...emotional pain from abuse, from losing my mom when I was 10, from being so horribly shy that I barely was able to make friends...but also some form of physical pain was always plaguing me as well. Animals were my retreat into a much safer, gentler world. And when I discovered Brandy that day in the pet store, she introduced me to something even more special. I do love all animals, and have particular affection towards dogs and horses...but there's something about rabbits that are different. It's as though they are the silent watchers, the ones who can communicate to you without having to wag a tail or resound a hale purr. They speak to us with their eyes, and every one of them represents generations upon generations of gentle spirits who have been hunted, chased, terrorized, their only defense often in running and hiding. They empathize with us...I find especially so with those who have been hurt in life, or have had difficulties...yet they also represent indomitable, incredibly stoic and hardy souls who show us just how to never give up, how to survive and continue on. On a spiritual level, I truly do believe that the rabbit is so much more than a cute, loving creature...there really is something magickal about them....a wonderous gift from God.
that was when I was 9 or 10 and so I started looking at other pets, indoor ones so that they wouldn't get eaten. First I asked for a ferret, but then did some more reasearch and decided that I didn't really want one (my parents also refused to have one in the house) and so I started looking at other animals. Lo and Behold there are bunnies! 
