Hi Melissa,
Thank you for your wonderful post.  I felt pulled back to my childhood of
animals as I read your note.  My mom was a divorced parent and always
trying to find something that would keep her little girl occupied and
something to love and take care of.  When we lived in a no pet apartment
we had an aquarium of fish and hampsters.  Our hampster was a free roam
when we were around which was great but then mom forgot to shut his cage
one day and he ran away, neighbor found him and set him free.  Oh how nice
:-(.  I was devastated and that was my first lesson in something leaving
me.  Then as we moved into a house along came dogs, cats, and yes more
hampsters and fish.  As you said losing friends and feeling alone was ok
because I could always turn to my furry friends even the smallest ones.  I
remember my pop pop dying one night as I sat alone rocking and holding my
dog snoopy as no one told me what was happening but even at the age of 10
I knew something was wrong and that he was gone.  Now here I am 43 and
have 13 kitties in house and my 2 baby furry fuzzy ferret boys.  They have
been the best thing to take my mind off work stress like you would not
believe.  I still remember the day we went for our guinea pigs (which we
never got) and I heard a voice say as we held these little boys that I
would know very soon why we were to get them.  My stepdad had just passed
away the week before.  As the days grew we knew more and more why they
were brought into our lives.  There is not a day that goes by even with
all the extra work that they don't brighten my day or bring some
excitement into our lives.  They depend on us and that is really important
because we love them alot.
 
Thank you for sharing your story.  Oh we don't have any kids unfortunately
since we were never lucky enough to have a baby but our house is full of
kids even the furry ones and the ferrets are teaching the cat kids alot
too.  So kudos to kids growing up in zoos as long as they understand they
need to help out too when they are the ones they wanted.
 
Love & angel ferret kitty hugs
Debbie
[Posted in FML issue 3587]