For Sean and Rocky fans!
 
Here is a one-up for ya, Lynda.  Now of course the ferret community has
taken part in helping to raise this lovely boy of mine with autism and
have offered so very much to my family.  But I just love thinking about
one special memory in relation to Sean and Rocky and the many generous
things people have done for them.  Do to so, I have to sort of repeat
an older post.  So bear with me, it's worth it.
 
I wanted to say a few words about a famous ferret that passed away this
past week.  Those who have been on the FML for a few years will recognize
the name, "Kouri" of Georgia, the west coast one.  Kouri embodied
everything that was "ferret".  Many of us have enjoyed the many stories
and adventures his owner, Georgia Wood, shared with us over the years.
So unique was this ferret, a club was begun in his name called "the Kouri
Fan Klub".
 
His owner, a little old eccentric lady (running like heck right now) ...
err she'd rather be called quirky and bohemian ... told of funny stories
about this ferret recieving magazine subscriptions, being enrolled in
gardening clubs, winning honors in the NRA from Charlton Heston, building
real cat-a-pults, and even receiving a telephone call from a bewildered
young man who didn't realize he was a ferret (yes she gave the phone to
the ferret).  His mischievous and clever personality can be read about at
his website: http://www.geocities.com/kourifanclub/kouri.html.
Please check it out, I assure you it will be grand fun when you explore
this place of great wit and off beat humor on the web.  Sharon Beardon
and Georgia Wood made it possible for anybody to join whether you are
human, ferret, or otherwise.
 
Kouri was/is special to Sean and Rocky.  Let me tell you why.  Years ago
when Sean was still quite symptomatic (with autism) and he had just
adopted Rocky, Georgia wrote me.  She was one of the first people on the
FML to offer a hand of friendship.  It was refreshing to answer questions
about autism, and about Sean himself in relation to ferrets at the time.
She had=20no hesitation in doing so.  And I welcomed that.  She soon
wanted to send Sean a crocheted ferret afghan, two sleepers, as well as
other goodies.  I had never told anybody my real name online, let alone
given an address to someone on the internet.  Gut instinct told me that I
could trust her.  She took pain staking steps in making sure that each
thing was not just the exact color that Sean wanted, but the exact shade
and "feel".  Pretty soon, Georgia, sent Sean photos of Kouri.  The first
photo she sent is the now famous photo of him in reading glasses.  Sean,
in all his innocence, gasped and asked me, "what else can Kouri do
besides knit, mommy"?  Sean believed in Kouri just as strongly as he
believed in Santa Clause.  To Sean, Kouri was a magical ferret that could
do anything and everything.  It wasn't until this past year that Sean
would giggle and tell me that he now realized Kouri really can't bake
cookies, play drums and make afghans.  I keep telling him that indeed he
can!
 
Somewhere around the time that White Russian was nearing Rainbow Bridge,
Georgia wrote me that a routine ADV test came back positive for Kouri.
"You could knock me over with a feather right now", I remember her saying
to me.  Now Kouri seemed to have an ever more important role in the
ferret world.  He stood for routine ADV testing, and especially stood
for why you should test before a ferret event.  His famous photo is the
middle square in Alicia' s ADV quilt that travels to events.  It's hard
to believe that when I saw and touched that beautiful project in October
during Atlanta's symposium he was still alive.
 
Still alive ... living by the sea in a houseboat with his parents, cage
mates and fat kitty.  Still alive ... baking cookies with his mother,
playing with his catapult, napping by his father, and no doubt munching
down the occasional octopi.  Thanks for those memories Kouri.  Thanks for
all you did and still continue to do for ferrets.  Thank you for helping
to spread the word about ADV.  And most of all ... thank you for making
a little boys' world just a little more magical.
 
Wolfy
http://wolfysluv.jacksnet.com
[Posted in FML issue 4561]