We have this beautiful little rabbit called Mysty. My daughter chose her name because she is grey and the day we brought her home was a grey and misty day. At first she was going to be called Smokey but my daughter didn't feel the name suited her so she sat with her on the porch and watched her play until she heard her name and felt it come through and the name that resonated with her the most was Mysty.
When we adopted Mysty from the SPCA we did not know much about her and neither did they except for the fact that she was house born because of how tame she is. And never having had a rabbit before we did not know what to expect. She was tiny with the biggest ears we have ever seen. Mysty came home with us on May 27 and we thought she was going to be a dwarf rabbit. Boy were we wrong. Here it is less than two months later and Mysty has doubled in size and she is a voracious eater. She still loves to be petted and cuddled despite how large she is.
When we got her, we initially had her in a lovely hutch on our porch but if anyone has ever had a rabbit they will know rabbits are messy creatures. They poop every second and their urine is very strong. So we decided to convert the playhouse my husband had built for our daughter when she was five to Mysty’s house because our daughter no longer plays in the playhouse. We also decided to move here there because we felt she was getting too big to be confined to her hutch.
Now the hutch resides in the playhouse wither her so she could have a touchstone for when she first came to us. Her house is spacious enough that she can hop around and she has a ramp so she can hop on top of her hitch and look out the window at the world outside.
We thought that would be enough for her. But I made the mistake of letting her hop on the grass under my supervision and ever since then she has wanted to hop freely and hence her desire to escape from my arms whenever she can. Having me, my daughter, my neighbours and my husband chasing after her to get her back to her house.
And each time she escapes and tastes freedom, the more she wants to do it. And each time she does, I feel a pang in my heart because I know deep down inside all Mysty wants is to be free. To roam. To forage. To be a true rabbit as is coded in her DNA. Not a house pet who is confined to a house – even is if it is large enough for her to hop as freely as she wants.
And what I realize is that when rabbits taste freedom, when humans taste freedom, when anything tastes freedom and can see what is there on the outside once it has been set free, it is very difficult to corral us again. Very difficult to contain us again. Very difficult to ask us to go back to the way things were because it is never possible. We can never go back in life to the way things were particularly after we have seen what is available to us in the big wide world. Particularly when we know what used to be was confining to us rather than allowing us to be who and what we are meant to be.
Mysty has tasted freedom and on occasion escapes because she want to see the big wide world that is out there. The call of nature in which her ancestors roamed free. She has taught me that when we are shown how much more life has to offer, when we are shown the true nature of people, when we are given the gift of wings from a relationship in whatever form, it is for us to decide whether we can live with the past or whether we have grown too much to be confined and constrained by the desires of others.
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