I just wanted to take a few minutes of your time, to tell you a little
about Odin, and how he became my baby.
 
It was October 26, , my birthday, and since i am a grown woman, and have
plenty of junk already in the house, i told my 21 year old daughter, that
i really didn't need anything for myself, but that if she wanted to buy
something to celebrate my birthday, then i would really like some things
for my ferrets.  Lynner, (my daughter, Lynn) likes the ferrets, but does
not love them, she accepts them because her mother loves the ferrets,
just as my husband accepts them here .  Because i love the ferrets!
 
Lynn, did buy toys for the ferrets, at my request, tubes, the colorful
plastic kind, 4 boxes of individual ones, and she lined them up on the
table in front of me, that day in October...my daughter just DOESN'T
SPEND MONEY, buying any ferrets , the only other ferret she ever bought
for me was Eppy...my other former MIA, ferret, a blaze, like my Odin.
She seems to have a penchant for blazes , for some reason.
 
Well, to get to the point, Odin and i met, after i finally opened and
examined all but the last box...after opening and taking the tube out, i
felt a thud at the bottom of the box, (boy did i look dumbfounded for a
moment, and even dumber when i looked in the box and saw a small wee face
peering up at me in bewilderment too.  ( i assume he had fallen asleep in
the tube, and was so rudely awakened, by me , his new mommy... the next
thought i had, was even DUMBER, still...i thought, why did Lynn buy a
"rat...? " , then it dawned on me, she bought ferret toys, that wasn't
a rat, that was a baby ferret !  DUH!  That is how Odin and i met, that
day, my birthday...i had just turned 50.
 
My Odin, I always said, when he grew up, he didn't have paws, he had
paddles!  He is such a BIG BOY!  Big Boy, Big Feet !
 
Odin had a game he would play with us at night, there are 3 cages in our
bedroom, the first one with access/port holes in it for the ferrets (free
roam) to pass through from the bedroom door, complete with hammys for
everyone, to the 2nd cage, also with hammys which would be a feeding
station (on top) , to a 2 story cat tree, that lead to the final and 3rd
cage, with yet another hammy, which was right next to my side of the bed.
Well, Odin was an ankle digger, and he would go to my husbands ankles,
dig, dig, dig, till Dan couldn't tolerate any more and then hubby would
place Odin on the floor, and we would listen to him run around the bed,
through and over the cages, get into bed on my side, only to go for the
ankles again, this was "nearly" a nightly routine with Odin..  and he
would do this for quite some time, till he wore himself out.we would lay
in bed and listen to him in the dark.  I say nearly...
 
The other habit my Odin had, was when i was in the kitchen, he would come
out , lay on his back, cock his head and just give me the look ...he is
such a laid back /loveable ferret.  Never a problem, until now :-(
 
I see that baby face peering at me in bewilderment, to this day... that
beautiful white teeny face.  IT was a kodak moment, only he and i will
share .  I saw only him, and he only me, for he was at the bottom of the
box.  I see him laying on the kitchen rug, just giving me the look, .and
i try to see him, where ever he may be now :-( , to tell him just how
missed and loved he is.  I try to send him warmth from the cold weather.
and well wishes for the day.
 
There isn't a moment, a day, a sunrise or sunset, that Odin is not in
my mind, and my heart.  I am trying my darndest to keep my emotions in
check, but it isn't working all the time.  my heart quickens when ever
the phone rings in anticipation, that maybe someone is calling with good
news about Odin ...i let Dan, answer, cause i am also afraid.  Yes, we
have other ferrets, but like Odin, they are all individual.  They all
have their own personalities, and there will never be another Odin, nor
another Bandit, or Roxy, or Felicia or any of the others who have had the
opportunity to share their lives with us, as short as it had been for
some of them.  I have Odies, picture, (my favorite, picture of Odysseus)
on my television set, so i can see him everyday.  Call, me sick, call me
what you will.  Odin is a living, breathing, feeling creation, and he is
still my baby...he depended on me to care for him, and here is where i
have fail'd.  Another one of lifes bitter lessons, i pray for to have a
happy ending.  I do not feel that i am worthy of such another miracle,
but every new day, that comes with the dawn, i have renewed hope, i think
and pray for him, and his return, but most of all, that there has been no
harm done, and that he is safe and secure from the elements and dangers
of being outside.  for, these are the very things i do not know.
 
My simple request, that you love and care deeply for those of your own,
and that you keep a small place in your heart for your fellow ferret
lovers, and my Odin ...and any other lost fuzzie that we are not yet
aware of.  Life is happening around us all the time.  Life that we cannot
even see, but it continues, in our sleep and in our waking.  I made a
promise to Eppy when he was missing, and i have taken the same vow for
Odin, as i would for any of the others, that i truly will look for them,
till my last breath is drawn, then and only then, will i pass joyfully,
knowing that i am going to see the others who have faithfully waited for
me, at the Rainbow Bridge.
 
humbly,
donna , missing her Odin ferret , all my angeled ones, and loving the
others.
[Posted in FML issue 4027]