Edward Lipinski, Ferret Endowment for Research, Rehabilitation, Education &
Training Society NW, reporting today's event at a military reservation,
Fort Lewis, 53 miles south of Seattle.
 
Never, ever have I seen, experienced and languished in the sharing of
love, the shared understanding , and compassion among the developmentally
disabled, children and adults, our ferrets and myself, as I and one other
ferret owner, held out and offered to those in some ways much less
fortunate than ourselves, our adult and baby ferrets to be held, petted,
caressed, kissed, and talked to by so many.
 
Tears nearly well up in my eyes even now, in typing out this report to you,
as I relive those moments, oh so many times experienced this day, when a
developmentally disabled person cuddled and loved an animal that the
majority of them did not know existed, nor had ever held to their hearts.
 
How does one explain in mere words that experience of deep and heartfelt
warmth of joy one experiences when seeing the joy and outpouring of
affection and obvious love for an animal that the developmentally disabled
are capable of displaying so unashamedly.  All I can say is that it does
this old heart of mine a world of good to experience the love shared in the
affection poured out to one of your own ferrets.  To be a contributor to
the love-shine that you can see in the eyes and faces of these unabashed
ferret lovers is an oh so wonderful feeling.  Yep, Edward this has been a
good day, a very, very good day indeed.
 
The special olympics is a gigantic, a very large gathering of people who
show that they too can compete in athletic events and win olympic medals
dangling from ribbons around their neck.  True, the handicaps are great,
but the struggle to show that they too have the spirit of competitiveness,
well I just watched in amazement and wonder at the spirit of these special
athletes.
 
This annual event I would recommed heartily that the Washington State
Ferret Ass'n take at least a minimal part in with me next time.  Perhaps my
posting of this event the previous week escaped notice, but the one other
person and I felt really sad that our offer was so infinitesimal with only
two people showing up.  Maybe next year the WSFA will get off it's ...ah,
how does one say it?  Guess I just did.
 
As a veteran of the US Navy, I never thought I'd be saying this, but to
the officers and men of the United States Army, let me salute you ... and
often.  The army sponsorship of the special olympics is one of the most
wonderful things in this man's experience.
 
Tomorrow, Sunday, we'll do it again and with great joy and satisfaction
knowing that just this tiny little thing we do can bring so much joy and
happiness to others through the character of our animals, our nuzzling
and beloved FRETTCHENS.
 
Edward Lipinski, who really did not know just what FRETTCHEVERGNUEGEN
really meant until today.
[Posted in FML issue 2702]