163. Set it Free: Think of a time when you had to let someone or something go to be free…did they come back?
As a girl, I had many successive pet rats that I loved, spent time with, and played with. They truly were pets, complete with my mom taking a rat to the vet and then telling me not to tell my dad because he would get upset that we were spending money on the health of a rat. In college, I had a BF who was a PhD student in psychology who had access to lab rats and asked if I wanted a retired rat since he knew that I had loved my pet rats as a child. I eagerly agreed to a new pet and was excited start a new rat relationship. Something I didn’t consider was that lab rats are not pet rats and had not been raised with daily cuddles and loving handling so the first time I tried to pick up the rat, it bit me hard. Ok, ok, I needed to go slowly so I spent time talking to the rat, giving it yummy food, and being gentle when cleaning or moving the cage. I don’t remember the interval that I gave between the first and second time I tried to pick up the rat, but teeth opened my finger again. This was not progressing the way imagined. I did some number of weeks in between trying to pick up the rat but after many weeks, I realized the rat was never going to warm up to me. I asked if the rat could be returned to the lab but was told no so I asked around to see if anyone wanted to take the rat but got no takers save someone who wanted it for their snake. I decided that the rat should not be given an automatic death sentence by snake and instead set the rat free in the wooded area behind our apartment complete with plant camouflage and a creek. I figured that maybe it could live a little bit before something ate it. I did have dreams about it coming back but it never returned to my door.
