The one reason Emilka originally didn’t want to leave UK to go to Sri Lanka was leaving her guinea pigs Leah and Melody behind. Once we knew that a nice family with a very caring daughter will be living in our house and looking after them, she was ok with moving abroad. 

Leah and Melody were a present for her 9^th birthday and I remember clearly the day we went to choose them, the joy she had in the pet shop, the happiness during the journey home and introducing them to our family. Emilka was so excited and so happy and feeling proud ownership of her two pets.  Over the years, Emilka had hours of fun with them and even though she had to clean their hutch every weekend, she did it with tender loving and care.

It was obvious knowing that if the typical age-span of a guinea pig is 4-8 years and that that they were already 4 years old when we moved to Sri Lanka, that if we were away for a further 1.5 years they would likely die before we returned. Emilka was not happy about this, but deep down she accepted it.

You know what is coming!

We received a text message from the family living in our house, that Melody (the black and white one) was found asleep on Wednesday morning on 21^st September. They felt so bad about it, but there is nothing they could have done. As instructed, they buried her under the plum tree in our front garden.  When I told Emilka the news, she was very upset and was sombre, talking about them both and thinking about her little “poochies”.

Only yesterday morning we received another message, that Leah (the brown and white) was found asleep in her tube on Wednesday morning on 13^th November.  Emilka was distraught and sobbed her heart out.  Leah was buried with her sister under the plum tree and Emi can be consoled by the fact, that they are reunited again.

I felt sorrow too, knowing how much time and effort we put into looking after them and having them as part of our family for over 4 years. It is sad knowing, that we will never hold their warm chubby bodies again and hearing their squeaking noises when we went to see them.

Life is moving on, but memories will live forever.

Rennie