Goodnight, Sweet Shirley
I lost my little Shirley on May 23, 2022. I had her since Nov. 2020, so she was at least a year and seven months (she was fully grown when she came to me from Tiny Tracks Rescue in SoCal). I’m working on a video to discuss the end of her life care and share some additional videos of this sweet gal. Hope to be done with that this weekend, she deserves a good send-off.
This is the first hamster I’ve lost since I started “hamstering” in July, 2020. I knew it would be hard, but ooof, I had no idea the giant hole she’d leave in my heart.
Even though I’m sad now, I wouldn’t change anything. She brought so much joy to my life and I hope she felt the same way about her life with me.
She was incredibly sweet when we first got her, although nervous of course. I remember the first time I got her out and let her climb through my clean laundry piles. She was so excited and busy. I didn’t know what to expect so I wore winter gloves and tried to keep up with her as she kept scaling my sweatshirt and up to my shoulders.
I love thinking about a moment when I had her in my hands, I told her how beautiful she was and how much I loved her. She stared at me for a long time, looking adorable, and then took two paws and did one giant “swat” in my direction! Haha, she was not a “words of affirmation” type hamster, apparently.
Daytime Shirley was the sweetest. She often woke up with us and would spend hours in a playpen, on a couch or hanging out on a desk while we worked. She was happy to come out, eat a snack, then find a soft corner to nap in. Always easy going, happy as long as she had a snack and a cozy spot to reside. The best part was watching her squishy, little bod sleeping in a corner. She would melt into a pile of Shirley (you almost couldn’t tell where her face was) - she just looked like a lump of mashed potatoes… which is what we started calling her when she napped, “Mashed Potatoes”.
Nighttime Shirley was a different matter. She often wouldn’t come out once the sun went down until we went to bed (Laverne is the same way, it must be some dwarf hamster instinct?). When she did come out, she’d dart around, quickly running from wheel to wheel (she had two) and avoiding being seen at all costs. This is why all of our videos and photos of Shirley are in the daytime, it was the only time she wanted to hang!
I could talk about Shirley for hours. The way she’d look at you and then put one, tiny paw on the tip of your finger and stare deep into your soul. The way she would greet you by grabbing the tip of your finger with two paws and begin licking. The way she would lay on her back and chew her Whimzee sleepily. I’m going to miss every, squishy inch of her.
