Farewell, Gerber

My NOMSSFs are Steffy's rodents. Gerber was one of them and a pretty special one, all right. Steffy rescued him from a pet shop five years ago. He had a terrible skin condition and diarrhea. The pet shop owner tried to talk her out of buying him, as he didn't expect Gerber to live more than a few days more. Steffy's thought was to get him to a vet and see what could be done to make his life comfortable for the little time he had left. It turned out that Gerber was a feisty little hedgehog and he fought hard to live. And live he did. He had never been socialized to humans and at first he got all huffy and bitey whenever Steffy picked him up. After a while, he decided that he liked being held and loved on. He became a lap hedgehog, and a shoulder hedgehog, too. He loved sitting on Steffy's shoulder under her shirt. He would sit in her lap every evening as she worked on her computer. He also loved rolling around the floor in his ball. He got the name Gerber as he was particularly fond of Gerber Baby Food Bananas. Steffy got him a girl hedgehog, Baby, as a companion and they spent several years together. Baby went to the Bridge last year. Gerber never gave any sign of being ill, but five years old is rather elderly for a hedgehog. The day he went to the Bridge, he had been active and happy, but when Steffy went to get him to help her blog, he had gone. He just went to sleep and woke up at the Rainbow Bridge. I am sure that Baby was right there to greet him.

                                        Gerber went to the Bridge in his sleep.
                                        It was gentle for him, but it made Steffy weep.
                                                    Now he's having a ball
                                                    With Baby and all
                                        Of his other friends in the grass so deep.