Dear Wendy,

After reading Riley's scroll it made me so want to meet this little
package of dynamite. She made me laugh with all her antics and love of
car rides and she made me see just how much she was loved and cherished
by you.

You remind me of my mum .....

When my she was younger she had a raccoon named Bart. He was much more
like a little brother then a pet, and he was very much loved. Years
later she wanted another "Bart", but by then you could no longer have
one in the state she lived in - so using the internet, she wrote in the
search engine "raccoon like" and got FERRET. Well, much like raccoons,
ferrets are not allowed in CA. either, but that didn't stop her from
reading everything she could about them AND finding and joining the FML
in 1996.

Two years later my family moved to Missouri and even before they had a
home, they adopted two ferrets, and then the "impulse" kicked in when
she fell into the fuzzy pit we all proudly call "ferret math"and her
life, much like yours I imagine, was never the same.

Riley was your first, but like with every fuzzit parent I have ever
known, she will not be your last. She will forever reside in a soft,
warm place within your heart, and each and every time you think of her,
she will be also be doing the same of you. Once a part of your life,
always a part of your life.

And now we move forward to Riley's greeting .....

Autumn has finally arrived here at the Bridge. There's a slight
welcoming chill in the air, and it's so very beautiful here. Fall is
my favorite time of the year because it's when I came home with my mum
and began life as a most spoiled fuzzit. Now that I am here, I know I
am still spoiled because the Big Guy provided me with a cottage that
is cute and cozy and exactly like something my mum would love to have
someday. I look at it this way, I'm just keeping the place neat and
tidy until it's her time to come back home to me.

My fireplace has been well cleaned and is ready for when that welcoming
chill becomes time for a nice, roaring fire and a cuddle in the warm
lamb and fleece hammie I just took out of storage and hung up, and I
continue to keep looking in on her and sending her all my love. Your
business do the very same thing, all of us up here do.

As I sit here at my writing desk, I look at all of the scrolls that
Hobbes had delivered earlier this week, and there are plenty of them -
two courier bags full in fact, and I have been trying to make my best
effort to work my ay through all of them. So apologies for the lateness
of Riley's greeting.

Looking at all of them I can't help but wish they were not there, that
instead of a scroll in my paw, it would be a life still filled with
vitality and healthiness and at home in your arms where she belongs,
but the Big Guy has plans for each and every one of us, even your
sweet Riley.

I didn't get to far into writing when I heard a knock on my door,
multiple knocks really, like someone was pranking me, so I snuck
quietly over to the curtains and peeked out to see 8 noses pushed up
against my window, all of them pulling faces or sticking their tongues
out and licking my window. It was really funny, and I fell on the floor
laughing and giggled as I told them to come in for goodness sake.

That was how I met Diggy, Cholo, Hanky, Bedlam, Annabelle, Marshmellow,
Louie and Meeko. What a lively, and silly business they are!!! They
told me they were and had been good and ready to go and get Riley and
that I could go ahead and write all about it at some other time because
they wanted to leave right that minute and get Riley now, now NOW!

Two minutes later I was dressed in fall clothes and being dragged out
my door towards the Bridge. It was a peaceful afternoon, nearing
twilight when we came into the Bridge clearing. Diggy and the others
mad a circle and we held paws and began singing "You are my Sunshine",
I know it's an old and sappy song, but it's about love, and the whole
reason for being there was to welcome Riley with open paws, love, and
family.

As we sang a mist began to form in the center of our circle. It was
only a few inches off of the ground and then is seemed to pull itself
together to form a round sphere of golden light. It hung there for just
a bit and then it touched ground and when it dissipated, there was
Riley and with her, and held tightly in her little arms, was her red
bear. The circle we had been in moved in closer and one by one we all
kissed and hugged and welcomed her to the Bridge.

Her message for you, was as simple as it gets. "I love you, and I
always will. Thank you for everyday of my life as part of your life.
Every memory I have is safely kept in my red bear, so all I have to do
is hug him and they will wash over me like a warm blanket and I will
be happy. Thank you and I won't say Goodbye, but instead good night,
because I *will* get to see you again one day mommy!"

In Love & In Comfort,
Pie O' Pah

[Posted in FML 7218]