I'm not sure if I should throw my flame-retardant suit on, but since I
have recent direct experience with this I want to present what happened
to me, which tended toward the very good OR the horrible.
 
When Tasha escaped in July, and I emailed you all about that, I had many
people who sent emails in support and in shows of love, which I so needed
and appreciated.  Some of them encouraged me to think about using animal
communicators, but I really didn't want to spend any money on something
like that because I'm a skeptic at heart.
 
Kim Fox contacted me, like many others, and mentioned she had been doing
some animal communicating, and would I mind if she helped me.  But I
want to explicitly point out here that she told me she was a novice, and
couldn't guarantee anything.  So I knew when I agreed to it that I still
may not know where Tasha was.  In any case, we talked back and forth for
a few days.
 
Kim, who was in crutches at the time, and lives some 70+ miles away from
me, drove to my house one day at 5 a.m. to help me look for Tasha.  If I
remember it was her driving foot that was in a cast.  I want you to know
how much I appreciated that dedication.
 
I also spoke with another kind AC who gave me some ideas to research, but
in no way guaranteed anything.  She did a follow-up a while later, but
admitted she could no longer help me.
 
Then, another kind-hearted person recommended an AC for me to contact,
who had done work for her in the past.  So I contacted this other person
and that is where my horrible experience began.  This woman sent me a
cryptic email, which I didn't understand, so I asked her to explain.
Then she did explain, in a very long email, and told me specifically
right where Tasha was, and that she was starving, and scared.  She was
supposedly at the golf course two miles from my house, with her tail
cut off by a lawn mower, and mad at me because I hadn't found her yet.
 
So how do you think that made me feel?  I was beside myself.  I made up a
lie and left work that morning, and spent the entire day walking around
the golf course.  It's a private course and was fenced all the way
around, and I did talk to the manager and one of the groundskeepers, who
hadn't seen anything.  I walked across the street to the elementary
school and went down into the woods and looked everywhere there.  After
about 6 hours I went home, completely in tears, and sent an email to the
AC, asking for more specific details.
 
This woman replied with the most vitriolic, hateful email I've ever
received from anyone.  She told me it was MY fault that Tasha was
starving, that I should break into the golf course -- laws be damned --
because our animal friends are what's important.  She told me I was like
everyone else who considered their pets disposable, and that if I really
WANTED to find Tasha I would do WHATEVER it took, including going over
every inch of a square mile if I had to.  So now I'm even more upset, if
this is possible, and I drag my husband and kids (ages 3 and 5) out to
this golf course once night had fallen, and we stay there for 2 or three
hours, squeaking her toy and calling her name, and then we go across the
street to the elementary school and go over every inch of that.
Meanwhile my kids are getting eaten by mosquitoes and they were freaked
out and tired.
 
I only sent one response to that hateful email, simply explaining that
she was wrong, and we considered Tasha to be part of the family.  (Hell,
Dave and I slept on the porch every night for about 6 weeks until we
finally acknowledged she wasn't coming back.)  So I told her that we
would do just about anything to get her back, except break the law.  That
wasn't good enough for her -- she sent me yet ANOTHER email berating me
and telling me that Tasha was almost dead and how Tasha was mad at me and
wondering why I didn't come find her -- the EXACT way to pull on my
heartstrings the hardest.  I was really a mess.
 
I let it go though, and never responded to her again, and we continued
our search.  Sometimes I still do.  But the truth is, it's been almost 8
months and she's not coming home.
 
Then one day, out of the blue, she sent me an email that she had sent to
someone else!  She forwarded it, almost like an afterthought.  In it she
described Tasha's death and rebirth at the Rainbow Bridge, and this
person tried to ask Tasha what she remembered and supposedly Tasha said
she knew who the people were who REALLY cared about her, and that even
though she was upset with what had happened, she was happy now.  So
basically Tasha "told" this woman that she didn't think we cared about
her, but this complete stranger did!?!?
 
As you can imagine, this absolutely sent me into depression!  I'm already
being medically treated for that anyway, so this didn't help.  I felt
like we had let Tasha down, that we had shirked on our responsibilities,
and if I think about it too much longer the tears will come again.
 
This is just my story, but I thought both sides should be presented,
since I can present both of them.  Kim and the other woman I originally
spoke to were very kind and helpful.  But the bad AC was the one who
made the strongest impression.
 
Amy
Amy, Dave, Sarah & Paul (and their gaggle of giggling ferrets)
RIP Ian, Elektra, Claudia, Sidney & Max
Missing Tasha
[Posted in FML issue 4079]