Yesterday was a very sad day for us here at Waco.  Lil Rhody, Katie's bunny, went to the big bunny farm in the sky.  Here he is learning to type.  He loved his facebook page, and was often seen writing snarky comments to the rats and the cat.

Lil Rhody was named for Rhode Island, for which it is a nickname.  He was fond of hopping hopping hopping hopping hopping hopping without stopping, as well as eating pellets and fresh timothy hay.

Sources close to Rhody (Liza Lambert, speaking under confidentiality)  claim that his yen for pellets may have crossed over into addiction at times.  However, not to sully the memory of the dearly departed, he never entered pellet rehab, but was instead guided gently into a method of substitution - that of royal canin hedgehog food.  The hedgehog, Kalu, was another dearly departed beastie, who left us a few months earlier under the roasty toasty ides of the sun.

Lil Rhody was not only the fluffy leg-humper we knew and loved, he was also a writer.  A half-finished essay, commissioned by J.S. Davis of valeveil, sits undone at his passing.  Ever-careful on the keyboard, Lil was composing his thoughts about the state of the union from rabbit perspective.

Lil Rhody was the inspiration for several songs, his personal favorite, "bunny mani-pedi," also, the lil rhody tribute dance, which was performed over his grave.  He also inspired the facebook quiz, "Are you a bunny".  He scored the highest, being, as it were, the bunniest bunny.

It is too sad for me to enumerate the steps of his passing.  After being raced to the vet, he was pronounced dead on the table, mid-seizure.  The room went suddenly quiet as he ceased to flop, and Katie began to sob.

We took him home and draped his cage in black.  The housemates gathered, including Stephen's father Walter van Dyck. I served cake, Katie's favorite drink. (that's vanilla vodka and pineapple juice, for you funereal Martha Stewarts out there).  Testimonials were said as to the healing powers of bunny rebirth, of relationships blooming under the auspices of rabbit.  Memories of the tiny bunny.

The conceit of the "pet funeral" is one that I remember from childhood, when my elementary school had a series of rats, hamsters and mice, all that left the world with elaborate childlike ritual.

I wonder sometimes if we are practicing, with the Kalu funeral, with the Lil Rhody funeral, for the actual death of one of our own.