I can't tell you how much seeing all of you at Ferrets 2000 meant to me.
It was like a dream come true.
 
Sitting across from Harvey & Helga Clark, Bob Church, Helen & BIG on the
Thursday night at dinner made me want to cry.  The reality of this dream
was all coming to face me.
 
Ferrets 2000 was a long term goal that we, the directors of the F.A.S. had
worked on very hard.
 
I remember when the idea was brought to our board the reactions of us all.
We all said, "No way, this can't be done by the 5 of us" I remember Paige
saying, "I support you, but I don't want any part of this" hee hee
hee...she ended up working very hard on this project.
 
I remember when it got tough, Barri coming to me and saying "Randy, it may
end up just being you and I doing this, do you think we can do it?" and I
remember telling her that I felt in my heart of hearts that if we wanted it
bad enough, it would happen.  And happen it did.
 
Sam came to stay with me earlier in the week.  I was glad to finally meet
her, the woman with a heart of gold.
 
She came with me to the airport the morning BIG & Helen came in.  My hair
was tied up and BIG's 1st words to me were, "Geez, I thought you said your
hair was REALLY red"...later that evening when my hair was down, he saw the
REAL red <grin>  The 4 of us hung out at the shelter until it was safe
to check into the hotel.  Sam and I hijacked a baggage cart and she
took me for a ride around the hotel (ok, so we got lost in the hotel's
elevator...don't ask).  When we finally found the lobby, I was still
sitting ON the cart (yes, Sam *tried* to pop wheelies with me, but alas, I
was too heavy and she's a bad driver).  We spotted 2 normal looking ladies
at the front desk staring at us oddly..  (ok, so we were a sight to see)
and I looked up at Sam and whispered "how much you want to bet those are
ferret people?"
 
At that very same moment, Phyllis turned to Bev and asked the same before
recognizing me for who I was.  I jumped off the cart and gave her a big
hug.  She laughed and said "I knew you were ferret people the minute I saw
you guys rolling the cart down the hall!"
 
Thursday night's meet and greet was a lot of fun.  Ok, so all of us drank
too much.  We still had fun.  Meeting Dr. Karen was a blast...she is so
down to earth and fun, I would have never guessed her to be a vet.
 
Friday morning was our trip to the zoo.  We all piled on the school bus and
headed off.  I got to play "Teacher" and enjoyed every second of it <grin>.
The lecture was fantastic and Pizza Pizza supplied yummie pizza for lunch.
When we arrived to the hotel after the zoo, for some reason a few of us had
cravings for Chinese food.  So, we piled into 3 cars and off we went to
Mississauga's best kept secret Chinese food restaurant.  We ate till we
thought we'd explode!
 
That evening, a few of my non-ferret friends came by the hotel.  Phyllis &
Bev wanted to see a bit of the city so we all went to a local pub and sang
Karaoke.  After the pub, Phil & Bev had us in their hotel room until the
wee hours of the morning (let's just say, I was hurting Saturday morning...
well, the whole day to be honest).
 
The Ferret Aid Society Ferrets 2000 Conference
http://www.ferretaid.org
Subscribe to the Ferret Aid e-list at
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http://www.igive.com/html/ssi.cfm?cid=1383&mid=43897
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[Posted in FML issue 3209]