Hi, all-
 
This is Sandee.  Someone wrote and asked me if I could please post my
Greetings at *one* set time, so folks would be sure to know where to look
for them in the future.  (Barring disasters like the one my Hoomin had
last week!)  I think that this is a good idea, I know how anxious people
are to get news of their fuzzies there on your side of the Bridge.  From
now on, I'm going to post on monday if I possibly can.  If I can't for
some reason, I will post the next day, on tuesday.  I'm going to keep on
announcing this for a while when I post so that everyone gets a chance
to find out about it.
 
I would also like to thank Saraferret for her help in getting all of
these delayed Greetings out to you folks, especially her Hoomin, who
hasn't been feeling too good lately.  Thank you, ladies!
 
***********************************************************************
 
Hi, all.
 
I met a little girl coming across the Bridge the other day.  Her name
was Smokey, and I was really worried about her, because she came across
crying very quietly, in the secret way that we ferrets cry.  We don't
shed tears like you hoomins do, it's more t he way we hitch our whiskers
back and hang our heads that lets you know that we are crying inside.
 
I padded over to her and started to groom her, and to talk to her softly
as I gently pushed her toward a Recovery Hammie.  Sometimes one of us
will have a hard time passing, and we need a little time in a Recovery
Hammie to come to terms with that passin g.
 
Well, Smokey and I snuggled into the Hammie, and we were just quiet for
a while.  I didn't want to push her into talking just yet.  When she did
start to talk to me, I realized how very wrong my first impression of
her was.  Yes, Smokey was crying, but bec ause she felt so very special
and loved.  She said that she had a fine home with her hoomin, Marla, and
that she had such good ferret friends.  She said that she started crying
when she realized that she was on the Bridge, and that she had actually
passed from the World of the Living snuggled in between her friends
Wilson and Bear.  She said that she couldn't imagine a better way to
leave the world, and that there was no pain, whatsoever.
 
Well, I will admit that this made me cry a little, too.  I'd hate to
tell you how often I Greet a newcomer here who has a story of neglect or
abuse to tell me.  Not Smokey.  She lived well, and she passed well.  She
is a very lucky, lucky ferret, and she kn ows it.  Shw wants to thank her
Mommy for all of the love, so much love.
 
Smokey and I spent a little more time in the Hammie and then we went to
meet her Business of Brat and Fro, who were staying off a little ways in
the distance, not sure what was going on with Smokey.  They were *very*
relieved to know that she was all right!
 
Brat(who has not been here that long) and Fro helped Smokey into her new
wings, and we all flew off to the Vineard.  The Vineard is a wonderful
place!  Grape vines grow there, row after row of them, as far as the eye
can see.  It makes perfect sense, now doesn't it?  How could you have
rasins without grapes, first?  And you can imagine how many rasins we go
through around here!  We are proud to say that we grow our own.
 
We landed to the edge of the field in the soft brown plowed-up dirt, warm
beneath our toepads in the sun.  We slipped out of our wings and ran down
the rows, laughing and dooking!  Some of the vines had bunches of green
or yellow or purple grapes, but others had a few rasins amongst the
bunches.  Soft, sun-dried, sweet, rasins!  We would stop to nibble here
and there, then one of us would start running and we'd play a game of
chase until we were tired.  Then, of course, we would need...a little
refreshment Of the soft, sun-dried, sweet kind!  We had a wonderful time
together.
 
I met another little girl coming accross the Bridge.  Her name was
Shiver, because she had no fur in the World of the Living, she suffered
from that dreadful adrenal disease.  Well, no more!  I am happy to say
that she now looks like a dark-eyed white powder puff!  Her coat is
glossy and silky soft.  No one will ever call her Shivvy BaldBum again!
 
Shiver did not spend much time in her last home, but some of her hoomin
Mommy and Daddy's Business were there with me to greet her, and to meet
her for the first time.  Their names were Zeus, Chloe, and Diamond.
 
Well, Shiver was delighted to meet everyone, but there was something that
she reeeeally, really wanted to do right away.  She whispered it to all
of us and we giggled, then started to strap on wings.  We lifted off as
a group, and flew into the direction of the sunrise.  (Shiver flew very
well for a beginner!)
 
We flew over broad, grassy fields studded with wildflowers.  We flew over
a dark pinewood forrest, and over a set of small hills.  Between them, in
a small valley, was our destination.  It was a small mountain of combs,
hairbrushes, styling brushes, full a nd half rounds, brushes of every
type imaginable glittering and shining in the morning sun..  Combs of
shell and plastic and wood.  Combs of carved ivory and bone.  And the
one, simple, apple wood comb, that was all that Shiver wanted for
herself.
 
You see, there are so very many ferrets like Shiver who lose their coats.
A coat is very...personal.  It's difficult to live without for purely
emotional reasons, never mind the temperature.  Now, Shiver has something
that never would have done her any good in the last world.  She also has
friends to hold her comb in their mouths, and to groom her with it.  She
has no money nor need of it, but she is rich in her own way.
 
Shiver's Mommy asked me to let Shiver know that she was sorry, sorry that
they could not have had more time together.  Well, Shiver wants her Mommy
to know that they will see each other again, and they will be blessed
with time, and other things when that day comes, a long time from now.
 
Sandee
 
TOMORROW: Sandee Greets Calvin, Phillip, and Linus
[Posted in FML issue 4474]