1 April 2013

This morning I woke up to a sad message from my parents.  Ovi, the gerbil named after Alex Ovechkin from the Washington Capitals, the gerbil that we gave to them when we left last summer, had passed.  He had quite a set-up at my parents' house.  Several house pods, extensive tunnels, plenty of bedding to fling and treats to eat.

The message I received:  It is finished

Ovi passed away peacefully today after three days of shutting down.

Sad.  So sad.  He was only 2 ½ years old.  I guess that is nearly old age for a gerbil.  Or maybe he had one wafer thin treat too many.  We’ll never know, will we?  Since they got Ovi my dad said he didn’t like the little rodent and why hadn’t it died already?  My mom says he’s kidding, he doted on that gerbil far more than we ever did.

But if you’re like me, you read that message.  Then read it again.  And said, huh… it is finished… three days…  Easter Sunday…  And then glanced at the date.  

Uh huh.

Me: Oh goodness.  Well we have bad news of our own, we’ve been put on ordered departure and will be in VA on Wednesday.  I hope you don’t mind if we stay with you?  Most likely it won’t be for more than 2 or 3 months?  Six at the worst.  Is that OK?  Oh, and we’ve been allowed to bring the 4 cats too.

My folks live in a 3 bedroom townhouse.  When we stay with them for a week it’s a squeeze.  They aren’t really pet people either, see my comment about my dad’s thoughts on Ovi.

Home: What prompted this sudden departure?  Please provide itinerary.  You renting a car at Dulles, or do we need to bring our two cars?

Me:  ;) 4/1/13

My dad:  We took you seriously.  Mom is even late to work because of it… didn’t think you’d do that on Ovi’s message.

My mom:  That was the worst April Fool’s joke ever J Papa and I were already in high gear making plans for your arrival.  Please, please don’t do that again. 

Hope all is really well with you.

…and the kicker…

BTW, Ovi really is gone.  He’s left a little hole in our world.

So at the same time I strike April Fool’s gold… the joke was on me.

RIP little guy. You'll be missed.

P.S. 

Me to Rebecca: Ovi died.

Rebecca: No way!

Me:  Really.  You know he was only supposed to live a couple years, so it’s about right.

*pause*

Rebecca: I thought you meant Ovechkin.  I was going to look it up on Google.