By Gene J. Mikulka
2 June, 2003

As I type this it is 2 June 2003. 

 Edison, my little Holland Lop, would have been 8 years old today. It's an appointment that he was alas deprived of keeping. He passed away at age 7 years and three months on 24 September 2002.

I thought about different ways to observe this day, or to just let it go without fanfare. However, my heart could not just let this day go without doing something. After all, this web site is dedicated to his memory and he was such a large part of my life for the seven years he was with me.

I thought about the day he first caught my eye at a 4H event at Chub Park in Chester NJ in July of 1995.  My reason for going to it? Just simply a different way to spend a lazy warm summer Sunday afternoon. I had never had a rabbit for a pet and to be honest, I never gave it much thought. I was a cat person before I went to the show that afternoon.

I left the event a full fledged rabbit person. 

Edison, (known then by his breeder tag number, ST-60) was just 8 weeks old when I first saw him or should I say he found me. I had walked by the rabbit tent at the show when he and I first locked eyes: A little salt and pepper colored rabbit with these floppy ears that looked like they were way too big for such a small creature. 

At the time, I wasn’t looking for a rabbit. I wasn’t even looking for a household pet. But for ten minutes, this little ball of sliver and black fluff just locked his eyes on me as I passed by his little cage along with his 4 other brothers. There was just some sort of connection there that I to this day cannot describe. This little bunny had just wiggled his tiny nose into my life. I just knew that he would be coming home. 

One week later, 6 August 1995, he was calling my den his own. I still remember his ear flopped over his litter box as he went to sleep He was all stretched out just minutes after his arrival in his new home.

I always thought that I had named Edison appropriately. He was very curious about his surroundings, almost to a point where he would get into some trouble sometimes! He always had to know what was happening around him.

Edison was always trying to experiment with some box or toy. He was gregarious, and enjoyed being around people. He didn’t want to be the center of attention. He just wanted to be a part of everything that happened around him. He also displayed great courage during treatment for the medical issues that haunted him during the last three years of his life. 

Edison helped me though many turning points in my life. He kept my morale up through three “downsizing” events, an illness which saw me disabled for a good four months in 1998, and he always found a way of making me smile when there were tough days. In turn, besides giving him as much time, care and attention as I could, I tried my best to help him through his illness with abscesses and a necrotic tissue outbreak. Both of these illnesses did indeed contribute at least indirectly, to his loss in September of 2002.  

Edison’s greatest gifts were his companionship and his trust. Another gift he gave was to introduce me to wonderful, mysterious, and rewarding world of the house rabbit. 

He gave me the gift of friendship and not just his own. Through Edison, I have made met many other people who are also interested in rabbits as household companion animals. Some are as near as Central NJ, some as far away as Australia. All either have one or several rabbits that they share their home with.

Some others I know go a step further and are involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of abandoned rabbits, and ultimately finding homes for those rabbits. I have begun to support those people I know in those efforts. 

Even in his passing, Edison gave me a gift. He expired as I held him close to me. He allowed me to be there with him during his last moments. To say "good-bye" to him one last time,and to see him off on his last journey into  eternity. 

Edison lives. 

Edison's sprit and legacy are alive in the memory of all that knew him and on this web site. He also lives on through his final two gifts: Lucy and Oliver, my two new rabbits and the current hosts of the “Hutch”. They have both picked up from where Edison left off with their own distinctive personalities.

No, Lucy and Oliver are not like my Edison, nor should they try to be. Lucy was named by her former caretaker for the actress and  comedienne Lucille Ball and the name fits this rabbit. This beautiful and graceful mini-lop is a bit of a "clown princess" in her own rite. She is always dreaming up new ways to get into things or just making me laugh with her nightly antics. 

Oliver by contrast is just a gentle little soul, with a quiet and reserved personality. He enjoys lying down and soaking in all of the head scratches he can. The reward one receives from giving this little rabbit all of this attention? Oliver gives you tooth-purrs. However he too has a little streak of mischief in him. 

Both Lucy and Oliver are very unique.

Just as Edison was. 

Happy Birthday, Edison. I Miss You. 
Thank you for your gifts.

Edison's Bio
Edison's Memorial Page

Edison T. Rabbit