On sept.15 2006 my mother-in-law of 28 year`s passed away due to a stroke. It was`nt expected and we were in shock,Eileen lived with us and we were all very close.She was the heart and soul of our family, there was lots of love and laugher,then she died.Our life had a hole so did our heart`s.About two weeks later we were shopping I was in one store my husband and son in the pet store (No we did`nt have any pets.)They were looking for an air freshener.My son called me and told me I had come see a cool little guy, no it was`nt Mikie, it was a panda bear hamster.Despite my husband saying no, well he was out voted and Bruce came home with us and he`s still here.A week later we went to the pet store to get something for Bruce. That`s when we seen Mikie he was so cute and for the first time all three of us smiled.He stole my heart. We brought the angel home with us where he I know he belonged, he became the king of this house and he stayed that way till he left us on Aug.16 2007.We all made time to spend with him everyday and he`d make us laugh, we did`nt think that was possible anymore.No one would belive it but I swear he could understood us.He had a tube in his large homemade cage(store bought cages are to small).We would say go through you tube and he`d run through it,then stand there and stare at us until we`d clap and say ''yeah Mikie'' then he`d go in his tent.Yes he had a tent in his cage, it was made for a cat so for Mikie who by the way was a guinea pig it was huge. He liked to have his food in the tent and also the pillow I made for him to sleep on, he`d even bring hay in there so he would only have to come out when he wanted to.If he`d hear us talking to the other guy`s, he`d come only to the door and look out, just to make sure no one was getting something he was`nt, that never happened cause if on gets a treat they all do.Mikies favorite was carrots oh could he put those away.BUT, Mikie was a messy carrot eater he mouth and chin was always orange.You should have seen his face after he discovered starwberries.He would give you kisses,all you had to do was ask and he`d come to the side of the cage and reach up,you`d bend over and he would give you a kiss.Since there was no top on the cage there was plenty of kisses.I was the one who named him he was named after the late singer Michael hutchence of the group Inxs.Even though he was named after him Mikie did`nt like he`s singing and made that clear right away so no Inxs music when he was in the room.To us he was perfect but Mike had problems.We knew nothing about guinea pigs when we brought him home, so I speak from experience when I say look into a pet before you get one,trust me pet stores are no help.Mikie had this cute way of looking at you with his head tilted, turns out he`d had an ear infection before we`d ever laid eyes on him,the pet store did`nt take care of it.Mikies cute head tilt was scar tissue.The vet said he was ok he could run and play.He could eat and drink ,all he had was the tilted head.Mikie also had asmall problem with his upper lip it kinda hung a bit, BUT HE COULD EAT.I never could run out of carrots.Michael our angel came into our live`s when we needed to know that it was ok to smile and laugh again, that you could lose someone you loved and be able to go on.He made us smile again,I think God needed to smile and thats why my Mikie is`nt here any more.Because that`s all that make sense as to why he had to die when he was still a baby.So God all I ask is that until I able to get there,you hold Mikie, give him lots of kisses and keep a supply of carrots on hand if you do this I promise you he`ll make you smile.God if you could pass this message on to Mikie? Tell him that mommy and daddy love him and we miss every minute of every day.That we will remeber to smile again we know that it is ok, but that there`s tears mixed in with the smiles.One day I`ll be able to rember and it won`t hurt as bad.