Goodbye, Hazel -,-

I can't believe it. Something very sad happened yesterday.

Our sweet, beautiful brown hamster, Hazel, died in her sleep. ~,~

We were terribly shocked when we found it out last night. Why did we have to become so sad after we'd been feeling so happy that night? Our parents were out for the night, so we kids were on our own. We saw Roman Holiday, which is one of the rare old classics that I can say I liked, and afterward we caught some Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They were funny shows, and we laughed a lot. (Both of them showed Obama swatting a fly while being interviewed. Hilarious.)

Then we shut the t.v. off and Adam and I went to see Hazel. She looked like she was sleeping in an adorable position. You know how hamsters do it, right? But then I noticed that she was lying with her eyes open. And she wasn't breathing.

I lifted the lid and gently shook her, but there was no response. It seemed she had died only recently, because when I picked her up and took her out, it didn't appear rigor mortis had set in just yet. Her jaw was set, but her body still seemed flexible, and her fur was so soft, just as it had been in life.

We were incredibly sad that Hazel was gone. We'd owned her for well over a year and a half. She'd basically been my brother Adam's responsibility. He wasn't always that diligent about feeding her, but I know he loved her dearly. We all did. He blamed himself for her death, but Annette and I tried reassuring him that it was nobody's fault. Still, he cried a lot. A lot, a lot.

For some reason, my sister and I didn't have any tears to cry. Not right away. It was hard to take in. Though we were very sad too, I guess we had to be strong for our younger brother. But later, when I was brushing my teeth, Adam surprised us by writing a beautiful farewell note to Hazel, for when we'll bury her. No one told him to, and usually he needs some help when he writes things. But he wrote directly from the heart:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Hazel, I'm so sorry that you had to go. Out of all the other hamsters that I've gotten, you've got to be the best hamster I ever had. I believe that you will go to a better place. Hope you have a blast in hamster heaven.
May you rest in peace, your loving owner, Adam Z. Levy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After I read that and I was alone in our room, I finally cried. What Adam had written was so beautiful. For Adam. I knew we would all miss her very much.

Do you guys think I should get rid of my virtual hamster, Gadget? Or should I keep him?

This morning, Annette and I decided we, too, would write notes for our hamster, though she'll never be able to read them. You know, being dead, and a hamster and all? But it's for our own sake. Here's what I wrote, plus a link to my sisters post about Hazel. She writes a beautiful poem.
-----

Dear Hazel, our sweet family pet:
I will miss you very much. Even though you had a long and wonderful hamster life, I wish you could have lived just a little longer, so I could take you out of your cage and stroke your beautiful brown fur one more time, to tell you I love you. Maybe somehow you already knew it, so it was okay for you to go.

All of us loved you a whole lot. You were so healthy and smart, funny and lovable. You never made any *baby hamsters like we expected you to when we got you, but you were still an awesome pet. Thank you for letting us film you on our **puppet show those couple times, even though you must have been very sleepy at the time.

Don't worry. Though you've parted from this world, you've become immortalized on YouTube, so you'll always be around whenever we miss you. You will always have a special place in my heart, Hazel. In all of our hearts.

Much love from your good owner's sister, Bettina Levy

* When we first bought Hazel from the pet store, the worker we talked to said she was pregnant and would have babies soon. We'd had a couple hamsters already (Stanley, Brownie, Muffin), and we thought taking care of tiny hamsters would be an educational experience. We waited for several days, not wanting to touch her so she wouldn't be scared of us, but no babies came. Eventually we decided she was a dud, but we still learned to love her very much. She was the best hamster ever. ^_^

** A couple times we needed Hazel to play a part in the Leslie and Kyle show. She was a fabulous actor. Here are the links to those episodes, Nine and Eleven, plus a couple other videos I once took of her (this and that). In fact, I believe those movies were the first that we ever put up as YouTubers. Wow. (Sorry for the terrible lighting, btw.)