Ernie

Photo courtesy of Julianne Gentile @ Flickr

On a wonderous day almost six years ago, Julie went into a pet store that we never frequented into due to the conditions of some of the animals kept there. She found two really cool ferrets, a very dark/black furred boy and another, chocolate colored boy that had a teddy bear face. The black one started to climb up my wife's sleeve, begging us to come home. The store claimed the two were brothers, so after we decided to take home the black one, I basically said we had to get both. We did. We named them Burt and Ernie. Burt became "Burt the Bear" since he was so dark he looked like a miniature bear, and Ernie became "Ernie Monster" and later, "Ernie Boloney".

Ernie had a few very distinct aspects to his personality. For one, he enjoyed human flesh. In the later years of his short life, he took to latching onto whatever exposed skin we made available to him, almost like a vampire. We were fairly sure it was just for sport, not malice. He had the most precious teddy bear face, which made this trait all the more hilarious. He loved this raggedy, old pink baby slipper and treated it like his only child. He was very possessive of this slipper and became very frustrated if another ferret touched it. He loved to hide dog food in the couch (we later found a large stash when we opened up the cloth underneath) and Whisker Lickins. Another favorite event was the splashing (emptying) of the water bowl in whatever cage he could gain access to. As a result, much to their chagrin, other ferrets housed with him rarely got any of the water, except out of the bottle! Ernie was always playful and later became a mentor to a new addition in 2006 called Sniffles. Sniffles now empties the water bowl on Ernie's behalf :)

Ernie developed a chronic intestinal problem that gradually became worse. We suspect it was some type of cancer. Despise constant treatments, Ernie left us peacefully today just after noon. He passed over the Rainbow Bridge in his sleep, the very best way possible. He's gone to join the rest of our beloved friends - Cupcake, Baby Kitty, Betty, Grover, and Bubbles. Interestingly enough, we stopped to grab a take-out dinner last night at the Chinese restaurant next to where we met Ernie. It was an odd coincidence. We even had Ernie with us in the car since we had just come back from a vet visit with him. All things in this world are a circle. Are there really coincidences?

There aren't words to describe our love for Ernie, but we will miss him dearly. Be at peace, Ernie, we love you - forever!

The following are lyrics by The Gathering, and the song is called Morphia's Waltz.

I see your eyes
Blue and wide open
Take your time
my divine creature
My arms will provide
undivided attention

Sleep, child sleep
rest your eyes
until the sun comes up
and you'll awake
to light, everyones day
up again

Rest your head
in my lap, honey
The day I wept
is when I had you my love

Sleep, child sleep
rest your eyes
until the sun comes up
and you'll awake
to light everyones day
up again