When each of my boys, Rocky and Bullwinkle, crossed to the Bridge we
had them cremated.  Bullwinkle had always liked boxes, so hubby had a
carpenter friend build him a nice pine box.  Now Rocky was always partial
to baskets.  After he got sick and we knew that he didn't have long we
happened to stop by the local Humane Society Thrift Shop one day.  There
we found the nicest wicker basket that we bought and put away for Rocky.
 
Each of the boys had their own bandana, and as with all of the ferrets
we've had they had their favorite toys and blanket.  As each one passed
he was placed in his respective "carrier" and wrapped in his favorite
blanket.  We also put their favorite toy(s), bandana and a few of their
favorite treats along side them.  I guess to some it sounds sort of silly
but we wanted them to have something with them that they remembered so
that maybe they wouldn't be as scared when they first got to the meadow
by The Bridge.
 
I kept their harnesses and leashes and as the time felt right passed them
on to new family additions.  Each one of the boys is in his own urn, which
sits on my desk beside their Memory Box.  Whenever I happen to run across
something special that belonged to one of them, like their old rabies tag
or an old name/address tage or maybe and old ping-pong ball that they had
put in a long-forgotten hidey-hole, I put it in the box.  And I have also
placed one or two pictures of my boys in the box so that I will always be
able to take a quick look at My Boys, who were lifelong friends.
[Posted in FML issue 3763]