Hello everybody,
 
As most of you know, my ferrets Lami, Sid and Snuggles have been residing
with my dad, since the Fish Fuzz arrested them.  At first my dad was living
in Lubbock, TX, which is a very long drive from Fresno, CA.  They have been
living with him since December 22, 1995.  My birthday is in June, and my dad
promised to meet me somewhere in Arizona, so I could visit my fuzzies for my
birthday.  Even though he was in visiting someone in Oregon, he called me
two days before my birthday and told me that he would not be going home
through Arizona and he would see us some other time.  I had been planning on
this for weeks and even put off all my family that is living in California
and wanted to have a party for my birthday.  So instead of going to Arizona
on my birthday, my whole family ended up going to the mountains which at no
fault of theirs, totally upset me.  I had planned on seeing my little ones
and this trip was not what I had in mind.  I was hysterical, crying and
basically totally depressed.  When I got laid off from my job the end of
June, we decided to take the vacation pay and go to Lubbock, TX.  We packed
up the kids and the truck and left.  My husband drove straight through.
When visiting with my dad, I was relieved to see that he had been taking
good care of the ferrets.  They were all in good health and happy.  After
visiting for a couple of days, we had to go back and it was very hard not to
pack up the ferrets in the luggage and take them back to California.  But
then the Fish Fuzz is waiting exactly for me to do that.  My dad said that
he had become very attached to Lami, Sid and Snuggles and that it would be
very hard to give them up, if California would legalize them.
 
A couple of month, the moved from Lubbock, TX to East Alton, IL for no
appearant reason.  He called me one day and gave me the new phone number,
but a week later he had to go to South Carolina for a while, death in the
family.  I did not hear from him for quite some time.  After a month, I
called him and gee, he was back, he just forgot to pick up the phone and
tell me.  He never did give me his new address and I really did not care,
because I could not go that far to visit anyways.
 
Two days ago, I called him to get his address, so I could mail him a
christmas card and his wife informed me that they were in the process of
packing to move to Georgia.  When I asked her why, she could not give me a
reason.  I asked her for an address and she said that she did not have one
yet, but she would give me a mail box address for Lubbock, TX, where they
would get their mail forwarded from.  I asked her if she would call me when
they got to Georgia and she agreed.  I got off the phone and pulled out a
map (I am from Germany and have really no idea where all the states are) and
I was HYSTERICAL, THEY WERE MOVING TO THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.  All the way on
the other side of the United States.  I could not believe that they were
going to move and would have not even told me, hadn't I called and she would
not even give me an address.  I was crying, my poor kids did not know what
to do (my husband wasn't home).  I got on the computer and wrote Margie, a
wonderful, wonderful friend that I have made via FML, that only lives an
hour from East Alton.  I basically told her how upset I was, I don't even
remember if I made sense, I did not really want her to do anything, I just
had to tell somebody how upset I was.  I thought for sure I would never see
my Lami and Sid again.  My dad had also promised me to meet me in Arizona
for Thanksgiving and cancelled a week before.  Then he called me and told me
that he would meet me for Christmas, and now he was moving to Georgia.  Fat
chance in hell, that he would make christmas.  What really worried me is
that they would not give me an address or phone number where I could reach
them.  I'm not saying that he was trying to steal my ferrets, but my dad
does not have a very good track record.  I love him for taking my ferrets,
when the Fish Fuzz wanted to destroy them, but I did not want to loose them.
Anyways, Margie got on the phone and called me, and then GET THIS, this
angel of a person offered to go call my dad and get my ferrets and keep them
save for me.  My husband, who had come home, called my dad and told him that
Margie would call him and get the ferrets because we wanted her to take care
of them and he agreed to it.  (We did tell him that he could keep Snuggles,
because he wasn't really ours and he had had him for a year now.  We only
had him for two weeks prior to their arrest.  My dad also has a six year old
daughter and I did not feel right taking all her pets away.) Margie did call
my dad and he did not give her his address and told her that he would drop
the ferrets off at her house on Saturday.  I would have went crazy by
Saturday, I just wasn't sure that he was going to give them up.  Margie
found out my dad's address and stopped by his house last night, and picked
up Lami and Sid.  Margie has agreed to take care of my Lami and Sid for me,
and she never even thought twice.  What a wonderful person, she already has
enough ferrets of her own.
 
Well, I just wanted to share this story with you, as it would have not
happened without the FML, there are so many great people out there and you
deserve a lot of credit.  Anybody looking for the christmas spirit, THERE
YOU HAVE IT.
 
Merry christmas everybody, and to all a good night.
 
Ilona, greatful in California
[Posted in FML issue 1781]