The recent loss of my friend and shelter mom Kym has resulted in not
only a painful week, but also one filled with life lessons.

This was a dear friend who was only 36 years old. While in the height
of emotion on the day of the funeral, I learned that everything was
not as I was lead to believe for over a year. For this reason, I must
retract the closing paragraph of my previous post on speaking out
against domestic violence. Certainly I do not condone domestic
violence, but in this case, there was no such abuse going on. Facts
have been double checked before I am taking this action. I am making
this effort to retract the statement out of fairness to the individual
who although unnamed, most would have concluded to be the abuser.

I did not realize the extent of the pain that my friend was in while
she walked this life. She worked hard to keep it that way and I
believed her, she was my friend. I am not angry at her for this, she
was not well.

Lessons learned include that not everything is as it might seem, but
more importantly for me, that I should have never been in the business
of judging someone to begin with.

In the end, I still have lost a dear friend and will miss her greatly.
I am happy for her that her struggles in this earthly walk have come
to an end and that she is on to better things.

My apologies to the group for miss-speaking and unjustly rousing all
sorts of emotion earlier in the week. One thing will never change - Kym
had a heart as big as the universe and was kind, loving and giving to
many people and animals. Sadly, she was not able to extend the same
compassion to herself.

Jerri Carel
The Ferret Haven
Louisville, KY

[Posted in FML 5555]