I am not being humble whatsoever when I state that this ELF quilt was never mine to begin with. Not for one split second. I didn't even blink when I won it. It was Robin's. It was always Robin's. The story is, that I was given three tickets a day to play on the raffles by the California Sisters. Then when I did play them, I never purposefully put them into the cup designated for the quilt! I mean I did, I saw my ticket that was pulled. But evidently, it was an accident. Okay, wrong a third time. It was fate. It was fate that the sisters gave me the tickets. Fate that I only had three (I didn't play the first day cause I forgot to), fate that I accidentally dropped it into the quilt raffle. And fate that only one ticket out of so, so very many won it! All I heard about was the love that was put into this quilt. And how the money is all going to the love of ferrets in addition. I heard about this for months from Robin. She was always so taken with it, and most of all the story behind it (which I'm still not fully privy to). I found out from a mutual friend that Robin had spent lots of money buying tickets very slowly over time. I was floored that she wanted it so badly. I always had thought how nice it would be if she won it ... someone who wanted it so very badly. Then the quilt just magically fell into my lap at the symposium. One of her dearest friends. It was fate. And I never blinked or considered myself a winner. I was too busy thanking God for the chance to do something nice for someone who gives so much to so very many people and who is one of California's heroes. I rarely get a chance to do anything nice ... well "big" nice. That was the real prize. Wolfy [Posted in FML issue 5305]