How I Got Convinced That Miracles Do Happen Or The Hamster Who Survived A Skydive From The 4th Floor

So I haven’t really ever told you but me and Matt have a pet- a tiny little Syrian female hamster named Mishka (the word for ‘mouse’ in Bulgarian). We got her just before Valentines Day this year and since then she has become my best friend and one of the main reasons why I rush home after work.

When you move to a new place and you are struggling to find friends, a hamster can mean a lot to you and when you are slightly  nuts like me this could be even more. I think that even Matt fell slowly but surely inlove with her so much that he began training her into doing tricks and always rewarded her with her favourite treats. I would spend more money on her than on myself and we would always talk how special she is- she never ever bites us, only poos and wees in her cage and never makes too much noice. The dream pet when you leave in a tiny little one bed flat with no outdoor space!

But the dream pet got so strong thanks to Matt’s training camps every evening that somehow she managed to open her cage on a very hot Wednesday and decided to go out and explore. Literally! 

I was back from work and just posted a photo of her on Instagram when Matt suggested I should take her out of  the cage for some running around the bed. So I went to the front room, opened her cage and she was nowhere to be seen, nowhere… I started crying but felt quite positive before we started searching the flat. What followed was hours of hectic looking through every little corner in the entire flat which for the first time ever seemed so unbelievably big; Matt removing all the skirting, cutting his hands badly; m crying even more and covering the entire floor in every room with her favorite foods in the weird shapes, hoping that she would come out have some and I will be able to recogniase that she has been there. But no result… she had disappeared into thin air. 

I didn’t sleep much that first night, getting up and checking every room every couple of hours. I got to work and couldn’t concentrate much as the guilt of betraying her and not looking after her well was eating my brain…

At lunch time I went back home again to check…nothing. So I made flyers to put around the building hoping that someone has seen her. I started thinking that she probably jumped off the Juliet window and died and someone removed her body out of courtesy, or maybe a bird ate her, or maybe  someone ran over her… I just had to know what happen e to be able to deal with my guilt accordingly. 

So I put the fliers out Thursday afternoon and the waiting began. And it wasn’t a long wait! Someone rang the manager of our building to report that they had seen a hamster running around the car park on Friday morning! Wait what?! 

Let me put things in perspective for you: we live in a complex  Wich consist of 6 buildings, each building has up to 150 flats, and each block has 4 bin stores at the underground parking which runs underneath all those buildings. It is absolutely MASSIVE! 

And someone saw her! I knew she was alive! Joy filled my body and soul! Friday night is a blur, I spent 9 hours in that car park looking for her, leaving food out, calling her.. again nothing. I was so angry that someone else got to see her and not me. Chances wer starting to feel slimmer than ever and the thought that she is in that horrible space full of broken glass, probably rats and great big scary cars was not letting me sleep. Me and Matt took turns to look in the morning and I eventually gave up to go get some breakfast. 

He went to the pub because I was so angry and unbearable and I decided to give it one last try. I couldn’t even bear to look around the whole place, just the three nearest bin stores. No hope and no expectations…
And then, in the corner of one of them, I saw a little nest, I lit up the torch on my phone and there she was! Looking so fragile and scared! But it was her! I rang Matt immediately to come help me get her. I am nonot sure he was entirely convinced but I am sure he ran the hole distance to our home because he was out of breath when he arrived. 

While we were looking for a way to trap her, I heard the voice of a little boy saying “Excuse me, are you looking for a hamster?”. Once again, WAIT WHAT? The very same family who saw her on Friday and reported to our manager were there about to throw their rubbish! The boy said he fed her carrots and expressed his surprise how friendly she was! Then me, Matt, the little boy, his mum and dad found ourselves hamster hunting on a Saturday afternoon! 

And we got her, I cried as if I just gave birth but the relief and happiness were so overwhelming! I found my little baby and she was alive! She survived:

• 12 m jump onto hard concrete (equivalent of 4 storeys)
• Being eaten by a rat
• Being eaten by scar
• Being eaten by a bird
• Being ran over
• Crashed under a bin
• Escaping into the outdoors where I don’t want to think about what could happen to her 

That is one tough little bugge I’ll tell you that! Alright, she has hurt her leg, lost a tooth and sight in one eye but the vet was quite positive and hopefully she will be fine with the medicine we got her!

So this was the first miracle that has ever happened to me and I just had  to share it with all of you! I would love to hear if you guys have had any extraordinary experiences? 

Yours,

Georgia