Hello, everyone!
 
I just had to write.  I need to make sure I am not the only one who has
been smacked upside the head with new Love!  Let me explain.
 
In November of last year, we lost Bailey.  Horrible, traumatic event, and I
made lots of people cry (and they told me) with my posts mourning her.
Well, we didn't get another ferret because we thought it was too soon.
Then, about two weeks later, I get a call from a manager at work who has
found a ferret in the middle of the street!
 
Melinda is not a ferret person, having been tainted against them by a
former boyfriend who was mean to his ferret, who in turn bit anyone who
came near him.  But when I opened my front door, here she was, ferret all
bundled up like a newborn coming home from the hospital.  She had him only
four hours and was in love!
 
Much to our complete surprise, the ferret was a GORGEOUS cinnamon!  Clingy,
quiet and shivering.  We took him to the vet, pumped lots of Chicken Gravy
into him, gave him a nice warm cage with his own blankets and sacks (which
he didn't know what to do with, so he slept *under* it for a week).  Little
by little, Max recovered.  I call him Smoodge.
 
I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS FERRET!!!  It's been about five months.  He hops,
he clucks, he dooks, he explores, he trashes things, he gives kisses.  He
is ssssoooo cute!  I just want to eat him!  I don't know if it's because
he's just the cutest, most gorgeous colored animal I've ever seen, or it's
his way of squeezing his eyes at you like a happy cat does, or the fact
that his body temperature is about 200 degrees and he warms you like a
heating pad.  He does so many things that none of the other ferrets but
Bailey did.
 
He isn't a graceful climber - like Bailey.  He digs into his blankets a
certain way - like Bailey.  He licks ankles - like Bailey.  I love all my 8
babies to death, but I've never been "in love" with one like him!  My
parents are equally in love.  They say he can come down and visit anytime!
Even my sister, my pefectly groomed, perfectly accessorized sister who
wears clothes I can't even pronounce, spent Christmas Day running in
circles around the first floor of my mom's house with Smoodge chasing her.
8)
 
Maybe he came along at the right time to help heal my heart, or maybe he's
just so sweet I can't stand it, but he's got me wrapped around his ugly
little toes!  So for everyone I made cry about Bailey, I hope I made you
laugh about Smoodge.  8)
 
Julie
[Posted in FML issue 2991]