>Watch Hope when she eats next time.  She's not eating so she'll make it
>another year.  She's eating because it's today and she's hungry.  Right
>now.  What a wonderful thing.  It's one of those little gifts that she'll
>get today.  Look her in the eyes when you hold her today.  Feel her face
>against your face.  Feel her heart beating.  That will be one of yours.
>This note brought a tear to the eyes...It's a keeper.  Thank you so very
>much.  I thank the Universe for my blessings each and every day.  This
>is the blessing as you so well put it!
 
Firstly, I want to apologize to this group.  The letter that was posted
actually was a private e-mail to a group I belong to.  I'm still a bit
confused as to how it came to the FML BUT I want to APOLOGIZE for my
graphic language.  I never in this lifetime would ever post something
like that to an open forum and if I offended anyone, I am terribly sorry.
I apologized to BIG yesterday and thanked him for the editing!
 
Secondly, your kind words are so appreciated.  I've received private
emails and now these responses today on the list.  I was so down when I
wrote that email.  So down, that I literally forgot HOPE! (meaning the
word Hope...not Hope the ferret.)  Hope received her name as she came to
me 3 days after losing my heart...Ms. Flo.  I was devastated as she'd
chosen to leave us while I was in Mexico and I couldn't get home.  This
little bundle of energy and joy came as a rescue.  Her story?  She'd been
put out in a field in an empty cage devoid of water and food and bedding.
It rained that night; a DEC officer found her and took her to the Humane
Society, who in turn (because it's a fairly small community) called some
ferret people they knew.  The baby was terribly sick with pneumonia and
these angels spent money on her care and recovery.  They actually wanted
to keep her.
 
About a month later, the man received a phone call at work from someone
saying they were a State Trooper and that they knew he was harboring a
STOLEN ferret and the owners wanted her back!  He got scared and took her
immediately to a ferret shelter.  The shelter was concerned about cops
showing up so asked me (I worked in town at that time) if I could take
her and keep her under my desk for the day.  I, of course, said yes.  In
the meantime, we all know that cops come to your door...they don't call
you up and threaten you but I surely understood the paranoia.  The DEC
officer came to the shelter and was told that the ferret was in the
"ferret underground"...whereabouts unknown!  The officer was ticked
pink!!  He wanted to cite the woman who'd thrown her out in the field!
YAHOO!!
 
The little one was so funny and full of antics...I couldn't resist.  I
decided that Flo had sent her to me to make me laugh...which she most
certainly did!  I have a thing about ferret names...I want one syllable
people names.  It took a week to name her.  I was watching television
one evening and an ad for Chicago Hope came across the screen...voila!
Instantly...Hope was her name.
 
Today, she's like she isn't sick!  She's eating like a horse...taking her
meds easily in soup and is pooping normally!  She and I are going to
fight this thing with a vengeance.  I am not a part of the equation...
when it's her time, there will be no hesitation in letting her go.  She
will never suffer if I can help it in anyway.
 
Soooo...to all you kind folk with such loving hearts and wonderful
insights, Hope and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  The sun
is shining in my heart today and I am POSITIVELY THINKING about a good
future however long that might be.
 
Barb and her 6 whirling  dervishes...Hope, Cher, Jake, Kate, Sam and  Tess
[Posted in FML issue 4743]