Birch's Memorial

	Name: Birch Sex: female Birthday: 15 July, 1994 Colour: sable Eye Colour: black Hit Rate: 98% Crossing: 5 November, 2002 memorial page

Everything started with Birch. she was my very first ferret, and for the first fours years of her life, my only ferret. when she nipped my entire family at the pet store excepting me, I knew she was the one. Birch became a part of my life on the very first day I moved to university, she was a big support through out my undergrad and most of my graduate studies. when I was over worked and tired, I could always count on her snuggling right up to me, and getting my share of sleep as well.

For the first four years or so of her life, Birch shared my ergonomic pillow with me. that pillow has a nice hollow in the middle, where she liked to sleep. early in the night, we would share the pillow equally, but by morning, she would be sleeping twisted in the middle and my neck would be bent in an uncomfortable angle. due to neck pains, I finally decide to replace the pillow with a king size one, but she didn't like that as much and moved to sleeping inside my shirt afterwards. before I got Birch, it often took me 2 or 3 hours to fall asleep at night, but Birch often looked so cosy and comfortable that I felt sleepy just looking at her, and most of my insomnia went away. I know Birch liked cuddling up to me. every now and then, she would looked at me until I followed her, and then she would go to the pillow and curl up there. usually I took the hint.

in her younger years, she was good at fighting, not just brute force, but sneaking up on other ferrets and jumping from behind. she used to sneak up on my dad by going all the way around the room, under the bed, under the desk, under the bookcases, until she can get him from the back. she seldom started fights, but if the other ferrets try to provoke her, as Sprite often will, she kicked their asses. after she started on Lupron, which brought her testosterone level down, she stopped fighting and started hiding in my shirt instead. Birch spent a lot of time in my shirt, even when I was awake. at around a year old, she found a pair of goggles and chewed off a piece of foam. when she recovered from surgery, she stopped eating junk food. since she was generally quite content to stay in my shirt and not that interested in food, I can eat dinner with her and have even sneaked her into restaurants without people noticing.

Birch was good at climbing and jumping vertically. however, she was not a disruptive ferrets except when it come to books. she made me realize alphabetically sorted by author is not the way to organize. when I lived at my parents, Birch free roamed in my rather messy room, and the only clues I find of her wandering around my shelves would be one or two small ornaments tipped over in the midst of many standing ones. okay... so she broke a plate once. every now and then I would find her standing on the curtain rods, when that happened, I would start calling her and pretend not to see her, and eventually she would make a noise, and I would go and rescue her. she was careful with heights, and I could walk around with her on my shoulder without worrying too much about her falling off.

Birch was a bit of a loner ferret, even though my roommate had her sister Firefly to play with for a few years. she caused UnSeeGoon's permanent fear of ferrets when she nipped him on the nose after he poked it at her rather curiously. after her initial fear, she realized dogs were nothing to be scared of and traumatized him on more occasions. I would never forget her confused expression when I first brought Dief home. after a few weeks of beating him up, she decided having a furry companion to cuddle up with wasn't so bad when her human wasn't around, and they became friends. I am sure she sighed at each subsequent ferret I got, though.

Birch was smart and cautious, elegant and graceful,and above all, she loved me very much. every time I asked her if she loved me, she would give me a kiss. once I left a friend holding her outside while I went off to grab something, and she got so worried that she poofed. when I visited scotland and sent her a post card, my ferret sitter found her sleeping on it after she got it. I hope she knew how much I loved her too.

I miss her comforting presence when I am awake and when I sleep.