Dear FML Family,
 
Right now I am crying, I am so touched by the responses I (and Dena and
Floyd Marie and their vets and families) are receiving today, for their
emergency funds!!!  I hope people won't stop short of the need, though.
I am just so thrilled by the tender, loving hearts of people on this list.
Thank you all so much.
 
At this moment, I KNOW no matter how much pain, sadness or suffering I've
experienced or will experience in the future, that every single moment has
been worthwhile for the joy I am feeling right now.  How many people in
this SHORT life step out, beyond their own pain and personal hardships to
touch others the way people on the FML have reached out to help one
another?  You people are awesome!
 
It's not even Christmas yet, and I'm already having the merriest Christmas
I've ever had in my life!!!  Do you see how this works?  This isn't even
about me, at all.  It's about others and their precious babies, but
suddenly, I feel more than ever that my own life is more valuable than it's
ever been before, because some LITTLE, TINY thing I risked doing or saying,
is making an important and valuable difference; not only in the lives of
a couple precious little fuzzies, but in the lives of others who are
motivated to be a part of this gift.  THIS is what Christmas is really all
about.  We think of Easter and Spring as being the time of "giving life".
But so is Christmas.  And it is a spirit that we can have every day if we
make it an important goal in our lives.
 
I feel like Jimmy Stewart's character, in "It's A Wonderful Life", at the
end of the movie.  You know the part when after he thought he'd lost
everything and was suicidal, the whole town rallied around him and showered
him with their love and their own money, to replace what was stolen from
him by that mean old Grinch of a guy who was trying to "ruin" him.  Not
that anyone's trying to ruin me.  But don't we all sometimes wonder why we
are "here" and feel like we aren't making much of an impact on the world
with our lives?  And I know a lot of people don't ever admit it, but it's
pretty common to feel like giving up when circumstances are way over our
heads.
 
What's so awesome is that every single one of us can do something special
for someone else and discover, in doing so, that we have so much more to
offer than we ever realized.  You all are helping to renew my faith in man
(and woman)-kind.  And you are truly doing a wonderful thing for Dena and
Floyd Marie and their two-legged "naked" pets, who could probably use the
fuzzy hugs themselves right now.
 
I never knew ferrets would bring SO MUCH life, love, happiness and pleasure
to my life, or that they might become a wonderful excuse to touch the lives
of people too!  If I could hug all of you, I would.  Thanks again!
 
Fuzzy loves,
 
Alecia (Rae) Gailey
 
P.S.  Thanks so much BIG for the excellent job you do as moderator and
patient "Father" figure to this list and all its contributors.  And thanks
for putting up with the long posts I've sent recently.  I'll try not to
make a habit of it.  No "spankings" please????
[Posted in FML issue 2884]