Mickey the Magic Bunny

If you read this blog, or listen to Frank's Place with Bill & Heidi on a regular basis then you know my kids are truly the center of my universe.

A few weeks ago I shared with you about the loss of Buddy...my 7 year-old sons guinea pig. Buddy was an important member of the family and his untimely death caused us great pause for thought. It was Nicks first time dealing with death, other than a couple of years ago when my wife's cat passed away.

As the days passed and the Buddy tributes became less prevalent, there was talk about getting a new guinea pig...or maybe a rabbit. But it was just talk. The guinea pig cage was cleaned and put in the basement...and I thought maybe...just maybe that winter would pass and we'd make it to spring before finding a new pet would become a priority.

And then it started...the whispering, the hushed conversations, the closed door sessions between brothers. Plans were being made...and I wasn't in the loop. Suspicious...as a dad will be when kids whisper to each other while looking at him and then leave the room...I started doing a little eaves dropping through those closed doors. I'd love to say what I heard shocked me...but hey, I'm Dad...very little shocks me anymore! My two boys were putting together a plan to convince me to adopt a rabbit.

Little did they know that I had already been scoping Craigslist and Uncle Henry's looking for a baby bunny as a surprise for Nick. The bigger surprise is that I'd already found one and contacted the owner about adopting it...but I was playing my hand close to the vest.

Then on Sunday...their scheme began to unfold. It started innocently enough with Nick looking at pictures of bunnies on the Internet...stopping occasionally to fawn over one just loud enough for me to hear. Then his older brother, Jack, sat down at the table beside me. In his most concerned older brother voice he said, "You know...we really should consider getting Nick a new pet. He was very sad about Buddy...but I think he's ready to move on now."

OK...like I'm NOT going to see through this? First of all...he's NEVER that concerned about his brother. .and what's this WE stuff? Unless he's coughing up some dough for this animal...there is no WE it's ALL ME!

But hey...who am I to mess up their plan. I was actually enjoying this. So I fired back with a question. "Do you really think he's ready for that? These things take time...and even so, we'd have to find another guinea pig...and that can take some time."

By now Nick is all ears from the other room...and before Jack can even answer...Nick is glued to my lap making his pitch for a bunny.

I wish you could have seen them when I said, "A bunny huh? Come with me." As I led them to the computer...curiosity was etched on their faces. Then when I opened up an e-mail and showed them the picture of a 9 week old bunny and asked if that's what they were thinking about...the curiosity turned to suspicion.

In unison they asked, "Why do you have a picture of a bunny?"

When I told them that I knew all about their plot to work me for a new pet and that I'd already decided to get Nick a bunny...and had even gone as far as to locate one for him...mass chaos broke out throughout the house.

They ran through the house cheering and chanting my name as if I was some newly elected king in a third world country. I was just waiting for them to pick me up and carry me through the living room and up the stairs to my throne. Then I realized they're only 7 and 9 and can't lift me.

So instead we piled into the car and drove to Windham and adopted Mickey the Magic Bunny. They call her Mickey...I added the Magic part because I think it sounds cool...and because at the end of the day it was pretty magic to see that smile on Nicks face as I tucked him in and he thanked me for his new pet.