Greetings and Salutations ::tipping my hat::
I cannot keep it to myself any longer.  I'm gonna bust.  Now, before
I tell you what I'm about to tell you, I have to lace this post with
ferrety words so that BIG does not tell me it's off topic.  So just
ignore the random ferret references.
 
Many of you met my two boys at the Atlanta ferret symposium a few years
back.  It was a great experience for my boys if you can imagine.  The
most precious thing that they took back with them was the great feeling
of being "accepted" into such a loving community.  They felt like they
had extended family.  And indeed they did.  Well, it turns out that my
ferret friends weren't done "giving" to my family.
 
My oldest son, Chet, is a beach boy.  Ferret.  And just like many of us,
he had California dreams.  Ferret.  Over the years, our family has had
contact with many ferret people in California.  Ferret.  My best friend,
Robin Jones, lives there.  Ferret.  She came to love Chet (and Sean) from
afar.  Ferret.  And they referred to her as "Aunty Robin".  Ferret.  So
began the huge brainstorm, of sending Chet out to California someday.
Ferret; is that enough ferrets yet?  My son is hugely responsible and for
not so happy reasons, he is very independent and self sufficient for his
age.  A perk that comes with a brother like Sean, and a mom that has
become incapacitated in the past.  Chet has worked since he was twelve
years old.  I mean steady jobs.  He actually has many bills, believe it
or not.  But despite the cost of high school (yes, we pay for that here),
band, and a car, he saved enough and earned our trust enough for the big
trip.  Ferret; that's just in case.
 
So last Monday, we waved as the Chetinator fly off into the horizon
bound for California and all it's lunatics it has to offer.  He was
heading right into the hands of people worse than your average Ca
lunatic.  He was going to be entrusted into the hands of Ca ferret ...
lunatics.  ::shiver:: He was so cute in running to Walmart the day before
to get special new shoes, and spending the entire day packing just the
right things.  Sean helped.  Sean said he had to do the actual packing
for him, because "Chet didn't know".
 
Chetmeister ran into a bit of trouble on his way out.  A flight got
canceled and we had the choice of loosing a day of travel, or letting him
drive off in a limo to Atlanta to get off the ground that night.  It was
an adventure.  And that was no choice for a 17 year old boy.  We sat on
the curve waiting for a ride next to a transvestite (well, not really,
but wow, did she look and act like one) who we thought was going to
travel in the car with him.  Chet broke a sweat and with wide eyes,
shoved some ear phones into his ears that were not connected to anything
but air in his carry bag.  Lol.  Turned out the lady didn't ride with him
after all.  But already the tone was set for the week and off he went.
 
I'll tell you in a series of much shorter posts what happened during the
week and who he visited.  Maybe even some others here might have some
imput about the experience of sending him off with me (in a virtual way),
and those that generously received him as their guest.  So in any case
this is the background to Chet's great adventure.  Ferret.
 
Do you think I tricked BIG?
 
Wolfy ... ferret
 
[Moderator's note: This post scored so high on the ferret-related list
indicator that I had to put it up front!  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 5230]