To : Jessica, Justine and Hal;
 
    I'm very sorry to hear of your loss of Nicky Bear to the flu...  Every
time I read about another little one leaving us I feel so vulnerable.  It
seems I'm all too often saying prayers for the departed, that they are
attended to by the kind souls on the other side so they feel welcomed and
consoled for having left the loved ones that are remaining down here.  I
pray also for those souls down here, big and little, that are dealing with
the loss of their loved ones.  Our mental understanding seems to do little
to ease the pain of the loss of the presence of the joy we knew so well.
 
    I was once told to be thankful for feeling the pain of grieving, for
it meant that I was lucky enough to have experienced a love just as deep.  I
was told that someone that has no love in their life views someones' passing
as just an event, like a traffic light turning from green to red.  That
seems pretty empty.  Thorton Wilder says "There is a land of the living, and
a land of the dead, and the bridge is love.  The only survival and the only
meaning".
 
    As I was feeding my Timmy a little while ago, still from a syringe as he
seems to desire the attention, I was just thinking how I was holding a
living miracle, and feeling very thankful for his now good health.  I'm now
feeling like all life is a miracle in action.  I'm reminded of one lecture
that told us to rejoice, that we had won the lottery of life; We were not
rocks nor trees, but thinking, reasoning creatures, capable of making
decisions and acting on them.  Hmmm, sounds just like our furry family
members, doesn't it?
 
    Carl Sagen in his Cosmos' series pointed out that we are literally made
of star dust, that the atoms in our bodies were once part of far off stars.
That made me feel much more connected to all life around me, and gave a
feeling of how sacred life is.
 
    I feel very lucky to be owned by ferrets, and to be friends with others
that walk on two legs that are similarly blessed.
 
    Sincerely, Gary & the gang of 8 ferrets & one cat person.
 
Violence is not strength,  Compassion is not weakness.    From Camelot.
[Posted in FML issue 1353]