Stacy tells her rabbit story from Hayama, Japan, and her hamster story from Haymarket, Virginia.
These stories are pretty funny and make me think of the best parts of my dad. It was sweet how my parents tried to protect me from the harsh realities of life.
It’s actually a funny story…
When I left home to spend a month in California shortly before turning nineteen, my parents agreed to care for my 3 year old pet hamster. When I came home I realized there was a totally different hamster in the cage. I asked my parents what happened and Dad, after turning very red, told me the whole tale.
Apparently my hamster died about a week after I left, so Dad trying to save me from being sad went to the pet store to replace it with one that looked the same. He said he told the woman at the store the whole story and she said “aw, that’s so sweet, how old is your daughter?” And he said “n,n,n,nine”. (Haha, not nineteen).
Skip to my brother Rex’s in-laws from Japan coming for my wedding a month before I turned 20 and somehow this story came up. So then Dad says it reminds him of the rabbit I had in Japan when I was little that I thought “grew up overnight”.
Turns out he had tried to do the same thing there when my little baby pet rabbit died in Japan, but when he went to the pet store all they had were full grown rabbits. So he bought one anyway thinking it would be a consolation. So wasn’t HE surprised when I saw it in the cage the next day and said “WOW!!! My baby bunny grew up overnight!!!!” He never for a moment thought I’d think it was the same rabbit, but I was 6 and, ya know… So he and Mom just went along with it. The kicker is, for ALL of my childhood I told my friends about this special breed of rabbit in Japan that grew up overnight. No one EVER believed me.
And I didn’t find out the truth until I was 19. OMG I’m slow!