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I am violating one of my sacred blogging rules by blogging after a big glass of wine. Just as one should never DUI, one should never BUI. However, I am indeed blogging under the influence, and this is why:

One of our beloved family pets has passed on to his reward.

Jack the gerbil was a good and faithful pet for more than three years. He survived a move from one house to another, a great deal of unwanted attention from children and the family cat, and he even endured flash photography when I took his picture because Geralyn Dawson was running a match-the-author-with-her-pet contest on her website. Luckily I managed to get an even better shot of our cat, which I sent to Geralyn instead, because I was reluctant to be associated with a rodent in my readers' collective consciousness.

Jack had a long and interesting life. His tail was partly chopped off when my son accidently closed the gerbil-cage-door on it. I took Jack to the vet in a shoebox, and the vet performed a partial amputation that cost thirty-five dollars. We saved all our toilet paper tubes because Jack liked to chew them. On Christmas, Jack always received assorted chew sticks. One year Santa gave Jack a big clear plastic ball, which Jack was supposed to go inside as it rolled along the floor. We fancied Jack must have felt like a rodent astronaut, exploring new frontiers and meeting alien creatures.

One time Jack escaped his cage, and he was gone for a week before we found him in the playroom closet. We don't know what bacchanals and adventures he might have experienced, but he did look quite relieved when he was safely returned to his contemporary-styled plastic home.

Finally Jack began to slow down and sleep more than usual. And by virtue of our long acquaintance, and my childrens' affection for this miniature friend, I realized that I had come to care about him. We just held a funeral service outside, having wrapped Jack carefully in tissue paper and placed him in a shoe box, and we prayed for our little friend. And I cried.

Now what I am left with is a sense of amazement at how much a pet, even one so small, can mean to a family. And I am grateful that I have a husband who is willing to participate in a circle prayer for a gerbil.

Rest in peace, dear Jack. May you find yourself in the happy, sunny place where all beloved pets surely must go.