• "Z" is for Zim the Hamster

My shy boy Zim was several hamsters ago. He was, arguably, the least memorable of my hams. He didn't crawl vertically on surfaces the way Rufus did. He was too scared to play "get in the shirt," like Doodlebug. As he declined, I didn't keep a daily diary, as I did for Juliet.

When he died, I wrote an online memorial for him at Pet-Memories, which is free. As I wrote, I felt he was still with me, as though I was doing something for him. I would light a virtual candle for Zim and read other memorials on the site. And despite the fact that I, with guilt, think of Zim as least memorable, I haven't done an online memorial for another hamster.

It was the smallness of his life, the narrow boundaries through which he never escaped, that endeared him to me. My little boy, I would say to him. Mom loves Zim.

Mom loves Zim. Say it fast and it will make sense.