Hamster Chronicles Part 1 of 2

From the beginning of time, my family has shown compassion to the beady eyeballs of many fluffy critters. My sister was the lucky one that had the hamsters. We had Dizzy who would fall asleep nestled in the crushed velvet sweat suit my dad wore in the 80's. Then we had a few nasty hamsters that bit me, so I don't even remember their names. One night during Dizzy's reign, I heard something scratching on my window. I was so scared that I called dad in to scavenge the room and outside my window for perpetrators. Nothing. Again I tried to go to sleep and I heard the scratching again. Dad had to come in again (and I think he realized he was not getting any sleep that night). He didn't hear anything and to say the least and he definitely did not believe that the boogey-man was outside of my bedroom window. As he sat on my bed convincing me that there was nothing to be afraid of, he heard the faint scratch as well. Making his way to the window, he realized it was not coming from the window at all. There was something in my clothes hamper! Opening up the lid, there hung poor Dizzy, our teddy bear hamster, clinging to the side of my wicker hamper in a desperate attempt to make it to the top of the tunnel of dirty underwear and socks. After a good laugh I was able to fall asleep. That was the beginning of my hamster chronicles.
When Jay and I were engaged he bought me a teddy bear hamster we named Peaches n Crème. We called her Peaches for short. She was just the most awesome critter ever! She came out when I called her name and since her cage was strategically placed in the kitchen, she always accepted gifts of various fruits and vegetables. Once she escaped from her plastic ball in my bedroom and she came to me when I called her name. She would curl up in my pocket and watch movies with me and even enjoyed a closely monitored adventure outside on the grass. Unfortunately, Peaches passed away at the ripe age of 18 months. I vowed I would never have another.