My, how the time flies.  The seasons pass each other as if it were a
race.  It seems just as winter's started, it's over, and summer races
past spring so fast that it blows the leaves off the trees into autumn.
How I wish sometimes that they would slow down.  It doesn't seem that it
was over a year ago that a beautiful yellow-colored fuzzy named Purdy
Girl came to stay with us at the Bridge.
 
Purdy Girl was one of those fuzzies you just had to keep an eye on.  She
was so fully of mischief that you never knew what to expect with her.
Wherever she was, she made that place her own, and all the fuzzies knew
that if Purdy Girl was around they had better keep their tails where
they could see them!  She was a real prankster.
 
One time, back when Purdy Girl was still in the Hoomin world, her mom
thought she was lost.  Her mom was frantic, looking everywhere for her,
and finally got out the purple dinosaur squeaker toy to call for her.
Mom was squeaking the dinosaur and bending down to look under the
dresser.  Purdy Girl, however, thought that her mom was playing hide
and seek, and snuck around behind her and bit her on the butt!  Tag,
you're it!  Everyone just laughed and laughed.
 
While she was mostly just a fun-loving fuzzy, there were some things of
Purdy Girl's that you just didn't want to mess around with.  Purdy had
her own private carrier in which her mom used to take her to the doctor
back in the Hoomin world.  No other fuzzy was allowed to use her carrier.
Even at the doctor's, Purdy Girl would come out of her carrier, then
close the door with her teeth just so no other fuzzies would crawl
into it!
 
It was no wonder that Purdy Girl was such a corker.  Originally she was a
daddy's girl to a man who had kept her for over three and a half years,
but then the man had his girlfriend move in with him, and believe it or
not, of all things - she did not like fuzzies!  After all that time with
the man, Purdy Girl had to leave!  It was no wonder that she had an
attitude like nobody's business.  Luckily, it was right after that when
Purdy Girl came to live with her mom.  But even then, she didn't know
what to think of hoomins, so she kept them at bay with her teeth!  Purdy
Girl's mom was a patient hoomin, however, and taught her not to bite by
putting ferretone on one hand and holding her with the other.  After a
while, Purdy Girl got a real taste for ferretone and learned that she
might be able to trust hoomins after all.  She even learned how to give
her mom kisses.
 
Just the other day, I was passing by Purdy Girl's hidey-hole.  Her
hidey-hole happened to be near the top of a hill, and she was always
playing pranks.  One day, while none of the other fuzzies were looking,
she coated the grass near the top of the hill with buckets of ferretone.
Purdy Girl peeked her nose out of her hidey-hole and watched each fuzzy
who passed by her hidey-hole slip down the hill, one by one!  At first,
Purdy Girl's prank ruffled the fur of the first few fuzzies who slipped
down the hill, but pretty soon all the fuzzies realized that this was a
great way to have fun.  Fuzzies came from all over just to slide down
the ferretone-covered hill like it was a Slip-n-Slide.  Not only did all
the fuzzies have the time of their lives, their fur shined like they
were river otters!
 
I had tea with Purdy Girl yesterday, to mark her first year at the
Bridge.  That's when she told me all about her mom, and how much she
still missed her.  We were sitting on a blanket outside of her hidey-hole
as we had tea and cookies (Purdy Girl took just a spot of ferretone in
her tea, wouldn't you know).  As we talked, I noticed how beautifully her
yellow fur reflected the sunshine.  It was no wonder her mom thought of
her as "her sunshine girl."  Maybe her fur shined like that because of
all the ferretone, or maybe it was because Purdy Girl was just one of
those special fuzzies, one who had learned that even as cold as the
Hoomin world can sometimes be, there were always rays of sunshine like
her mom to be found.  Whatever it was, being around Purdy Girl was
always like basking in the sunshine.
 
Having tea with Purdy Girl got me to thinking a bit on things.  Our lives
are just like the seasons, they pass so quickly.  We all eventually pass
from one world to another, like autumn passes into winter and winter
passes into spring.  And just as the warming of the spring takes the
winter chill out of our bones, I am reminded that the warmth of the
sunshine is never very far away.  Just like Purdy Girl, all we have to
do is learn to trust the changing of the seasons.
 
Sandee
[Posted in FML issue 5184]