Zoe: A History

Yesterday, Zoe and I celebrated our birthday.

I know. It probably seems a little contrived that Zoe and I share the same birthday. But it's true.

We got Zoe 4 1/2 years ago at Erie's German Heritage Festival. She was part of a petting zoo that was set up for the festival that weekend. There were about one million rabbits in the petting zoo who seemed to be enjoying being picked up and petted and snuggled by about one million children.

But not Zoe.

She was hiding under a chair trying to escape all those grabby, grubby hands. It wasn't working.

The moment I saw her, I knew we had to take her home. It was like when Charlie Brown sees that anemic little Christmas Tree. We just connected, and I knew we needed each other.

"Wait! Isn't today my birthday?" Zoe says indignantly.

Blisschick wasn't sure at first that we really needed a rabbit. At the time, we already had five cats and two humans living in a house that is under 1000 square feet. Space was at a minimum.

But the second she saw her, it was love at first sight for her, too.

"Where are my PRESENTS?!?"

"I still don't see anything!! Hand it over, whatever it is!"

The day we took her home was September 5th, and the petting zoo people told us that she was 6 months old pretty much to the day.

So, see, her birthday really is March 5th. Well, pretty much.

"MMMM! A willow ball. That's better (munch, munch, munch)."

Of course, they also said she was a boy.

It was a big adjustment for us when she suddenly turned into a girl. She didn't seem to be confused about it at all. A friend of ours suggested that "guessing her sex would have been much easier had she come with a little beaded clutch or something."

So true.

"Wait, did someone say I was getting a
beaded clutch (munch, munch, munch)?"

Having a rabbit in the house has been a strange and wonderful thing. We often walk by her little room and say out loud, "There's a rabbit in the house!!"

Something about it still feels so magical even after 4 1/2 years.

And, I think it always will.

"Moi? Magical? Do you think? DUH!!!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZOE!!!