joy in the Mornings

We had a death in the family a couple of days ago - my daughter’s gerbil, Scrap, passed away.

Scrap lived to a ripe, old age of two years. The average gerbil lifespan is 1-2 years, so Scrap ended his on the extreme end.

Scrap was a replacement for a pet rat who passed on within a few hours of being welcomed into our family. The distraught little girl - who was five at the time - was offered a gerbil to ease her grief over the dead rat, who was also named Scrap.

Scrap the gerbil became known as Scrap Jr. and we, of course, simply called him Scrap.

He was a good gerbil, as gerbils go. He only escaped his cage a couple of times and was easy to catch upon both occasions. His favorite pasttimes were eating and sleeping. He adored sunflower seeds, carrots, apple peels and crackers.

Scrap loved a good, deep pile of cedar shavings to burrow into and enjoyed sleeping in a pvc pipe elbow, which is where he spent his last moments on earth.

Scrap died peacefully in his sleep - in his pipe elbow, after a filling snack of sunflower seeds and apple peel.

Rest in peace, Scrap, we’ll miss you.