Be at peace, Ariel

Okay, I'm ready to share... Last Thursday, August 28, Ariel died in her sleep. Amy, who was bunnysitting while we were in Puerto Rico, was alerted a few weeks ago that this may happen, so it wasn't a surprise.

In February, she had a stroke (probably brought on by progressing e. cuniculi) and has since had limited mobility. She couldn't walk or hop very well, she couldn't binky (her name came about because the day I got her, she just binkied all over the apartment with happiness; arial --> Ariel), she couldn't clean the back half of her body. She's been in really bad shape these past few months, but definitely the past few weeks, spending most of her time lying on her side, as she could only stand up for a few minutes or until she tried to walk too quickly. She still had spunk, but I saw that fading, too (along with her eyesight), the last few days before we left for vacation. I told her before we went that it was ok if she wanted to go, that I loved her and understood, that I only wanted her to stay if she was happy and wanted to.

She's definitely in a much better place now and without pain or stiffness. It's a different house without my beautiful Calendar Girl. I'm glad I got these last 6 months since her stroke to bond with her. She let me get to know her like I never did before, and I'm grateful for that little blessing. She was 7 years and almost 8 months old. She will be missed terribly and loved always. I'm sure Amber found her at the Rainbow Bridge and is hopping and binkying all over with her.

I'm going to look into cremating her body and keeping her with us. I don't want to bury her in our back yard because then we'd have to leave her behind whenever we move. She'd want to be with her mommy, as that was where she felt happiest this year -- wrapped up in a towel and in my arms.

Now you can binky all day long, my little angel girl.