Hi all, Last Friday, Sean got a new honey bunny. Before I tell you about him, I'll briefly tell you what led up to his addition to our family. I only told close friends at the time, but Sean fell into a deep depression out of the blue last week. He fell like a rock. It came out of nowhere. And it was scary. This wasn't a typical episode of childhood blues, and it didn't look like grief. He kept saying it wasn't because of Rocky, but he had no idea why it was going on or what to do. He stayed in his room, most of each day. He rarely spoke, and I was about to take him to his doctor. Eventually, I was able to "make" him go out with his older teenage brother and his wild friends as odd as that sounds. I was trying everything. One late night, finally, I heard him outside playing hide and seek with the guys and heard him just laughing and laughing. It was eleven at night. We have elderly neighbors. It was inappropriate that children were running around in the middle of the night, let alone carrying on so loud. I didn't give a sh*t. I laid in bed with a huge smile on my face and let them be. He seemed a bit better the next day, then he obsessively asked when he was going to get a new ferret. Was he naked with out his therapy animal all that time, I wonder???? Hmm. So we began making arrangements to visit Julianna's shelter, and I was trying to educate Sean about options, pet stores, the whole gamete. It seemed that he had his heart set to do everything opposite of Rocky this time -- Pet store. Tiny baby. White. Rowdy. The whole nine yards. I'm sure it was completely unconscious, but ... there you have it. So on the way home from all the pet stores we visited, he whined that he wanted "Snowflake". A "snow who"? What the heck?! He never said anything in any of the stores. He begged and begged. I took him home so he could think about it. He begged more. Scott told me to go get this "Snowflake" person (yes we sometimes refer to our ferrets as people here, lol). He seem's to be about 8 weeks old, but that is just a rough estimate for now. He is not a black eyed white, but a dark eyed white. His pupils are dark garnet-brick red, and his iris's are actually blue in the sunlight. From a distance they look light black. He is unusual in temperament for a kit, very unusual. When Sean held him in the pet store, he could not keep spinning in his arms nor contain himself from licking Sean's face. He was uncontrollable but very, very gentle. I thought of the name Tori for White Tornado. But the chaos we brought home, flipped on us immediately and turned into a calm mush. Between the personality changes, and some odd feelings from his brother who once had a "Snowball" in the past ... Snowflake was dropped from the choices of names. We've agonized over names. We so wanted something that meant winter or snow for a new beginning and for the season and for his coloration. But Sean didn't like the many choices even in other languages. Finally he found the name Pharos. This was an ancient Greek island that had huge tower which kept a light/fire burning as a beacon ... sort of like one of the first lighthouses. It was a guiding light. Ever since then that word has meant something to that extent (in our language). It doesn't roll off the lips. This lovey keeps changing personalities. But this is Sean's choice for a name it seems. How is this ferret's personality different? Okay well, he isn't as wild as most kits. But of course he dashes around and plays like normal when he is awake. But even at his most hyper state, as soon as you pick him up, his whole body relaxes and he sits in your lap. He falls asleep in your hands almost immediately when you love on him. He licks your whole face ...and is a people "person". Put him on the floor though, and off he goes. He does lay around an awful lot for a kit, which has my eyebrow raised for now. Sean is acting like a normal teenager who has a beloved pet now. Nothing like with Rocky. This is alien to me. And I think I'm taking it harder than I should (leaving the Sean and Rocky phase of life). Sean helps unknowingly though. He still walks around and sings "Rocky Racoon ... alone in the room ..." (the old Beatles song). This makes things feel more natural to me. :) It's very exciting to see him in love again, as well as staying in love with Rocky's memory so healthfully. I have a silly cell phone pic of them ... it was the very first pic. It's horrible. Robin Jones is going to grab this silly camera phone some day so I don't keep using it and being lazy by not always using my real camera. But hey, moments are moments. They don't freeze just for me to run, get my camera and focus. I have better photos, but it takes me a while to find time to process the RAW's, etc. http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/share.do?invite=tErr4nmu7PhV4h37h0YL&shareNa me=MMS ps, can't help it. Shot of my beefcake husband with baby: http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/share.do?invite=3E8r4omh7PalP5iLhaJL&shareNa me=MMS Wolfy http://wolfysluv.jacksnet.com/ Sean and Rocky Slide show http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=7222047&uid=3512225 [Posted in FML issue 5120]