Dear all ferret-buddies,
 
Hello.  I wrote a couple of weeks ago about my lil ferret Sly-Bear's death
and the pain my and my family and I were going through.  I thank all of you
for your comforting letters and support.  You have all been wonderful.
 
I just wanted to relate to you a very interesting story.  On a Saturday
morning about ten days after Sly died, my dad was taking out the trash and
sitting right next to the dumpster was a lil furry friend!
 
A female sable ferret went right up to my dad and upon him picking her up,
she started to lick at his ears!  So my dad brought her into the house
yelled, "Look what I found!!!" With Sly's death still making our hearts
heavy, the lil sable gave us all quite a scare.  My mom thought it was our
Sly, and I thought I was dreaming or something.  It was just miraculous.  In
all the three and a half years since we had Sly-Bear, we never ever just up
and FOUND a ferret!  We put up signs saying we found a lil ferret and to
come to our house to claim her, but for hours no one came.  My sister and I
played with her and fed her, she was mighty thirsty and hungry and she had
diarreha, poor thing... probably from eating garbage and who knows what??
We just couldnt believe it... it was bittersweet because she was so
beautiful and in some ways she acted like our Sly-Bear, but then in more
ways, she didnt.  We quickly became attached to her, and my sister wanted to
keep her and take down all the signs we put up. *grin*  But then, late that
afternoon, the owner came knocking at the door.  My sister was the only one
home at the time, and she told the owner about how wonderful this lil thing
was and told her about our loss and everything.  And even more amazingly,
the owner said that for a while now, she had been trying to find a home for
her ferret, she had no time for her because of her working and going to
school and everyting and asked if we would be interested in keeping her...
also, she thinks that the ferret had been out of the house for at least two
days (she didnt know because she was out of town for a few days) so....
 
Now we have adopted her!  We named her Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Molly
seems to be happy and has made herself quite at home.  She is a joy to us
and she helps us with the pain of our loss.  Its almost like she knows that
we are hurting and is always trying to make us smile (which she does
successfully!  We believe that somehow, our Sly-Bear from the Rainbow Bridge
guided Molly to our door, since he knew we were hurting from losing him and
because he knew that Molly needed a new loving home.  We are all ever so
thankful.
 
I just wanted to share that with you all.  Its quite indicative of how
ferrets and humans have a beautiful and strong bond with one another.
 
Later!
            Monica Funston
            along with Molly Brown
            and from the RainbowBridge, Sly-Bear
[Posted in FML issue 1932]