That day, after scrolling through the cute bunnies, I found her. Brown and gray, with tiny ears sticking straight out to the side like an airplane, hunched up, a little ball of fluff. I don't know how, but I knew that was her immediately. Something in my heart said, "Say hello to your baby." Below her were her two siblings, a black male and female, but I barely glanced at them. I didn't need to see any more. She was the one, and no one was going to tell me otherwise. We were planning on naming her Leia, but the name her breeder picked for her fit perfectly - well, almost perfectly. ;) Her name was Elsa.
I ran to my mom in the bathroom - I believe she was taking a shower - so excited I could hardly stand it. "I found her, I found her!", I cried. Of course my mom whisked me away and said we would talk when she was done.
When she came out, she looked at the picture. She said she was cute. She told me that I could email the breeder, and ask her when we could bring her home. My mom said that if the breeder says we can see her and pay for her that next day, we would.
We had everything ready. Her cage was waiting hopefully in my room, ready with all the supplies.
A couple days later, we drove to Monroe to pay for and meet Elsie. Kristen pulled her out of a cage she was sharing with her mom. Her siblings had already been weaned, but because she was smaller then her big brother and sister, she stayed with her mom a bit longer to gain weight. She's overweight now. Her cage was on the right, on a top tier, stuffed with hay. Kristen told us how Elsie's mom was getting sick of her; Elsie was a hog and always took all the hay.
The breeder pulled Elsie out and set her on a carpeted table. I pet her and immediately knew she was fearless and curious. She still is to this day. She nibbled my sleeve (it was December and cold, so I was wearing gloves and a windbreaker), and licked my fingers. I held her and couldn't believe how soft she was - once I took off my gloves. I left after about half an hour with a full heart of love for that girl.
A week later we brought her home. She took to litter training almost immediately, but I remember sitting by her cage, reading, so pleased and happy that she was there. I would talk to her and get her used to the sound of my voice, my smell.
Elsie was difficult, insane, adorable, loving, spoiled and impatient. She would drive me up the wall at times - like the day she decided to pee on my bed when I forgot about her in my room, or the first time she nipped me - but she was always there for me. And really, she was more sweet then crazy. Sometimes I wish I had adopted her when she was 3 though. Just these past couple months she's gotten so much sweeter and cuddlier. I love it.
Elsie was there for a pretty difficult time in my life. By the grace of God she helped me get through it. I felt like she wasn't real - like one day, in the middle of all the crazy chaos, I'd wake up one day and she wouldn't be there. But she always was.
I forget how, but somehow, the idea of owning a rabbitry and getting more bunnies was intriguing and immediately I clinged to it like a lifesaver. I'd go through periods of not wanting to save up, to forget all about the rabbitry and how controlling it had become.
It was two years before I found that free hutch by the side of the road, and bought Gracie, that spring in May of 2013. We were planning to wait until I was 16....
but, as you all know, the rest is history.