I'm having trouble writing this - even a week and a half later. On Wed August 23, [July 23? BIG] Bear left us for the Bridge. Bear was an adorable dark-eyed white. He had the best temperment and the cutest personality of any ferret we've had. (Yes, I'll admit it, he was my favorite....) He was so, so sick as a kit and we almost lost him. He finally got well and lived with us for five more years. Bear would follow me around and lay on my feet while I was at the computer doing homework. If I had the nerve to put him back in his cage while still at the computer, he would lay flat out on one of the shelves in the cage and just stare at my with the saddest look you've ever seen. We called it guilt-tripping. He was the master guilt-tripper. Bear also loved meat - steak, chicken, pork - whatever we had for dinner, he wanted a piece! His brother and cagemate, Sammy, left us for the Bridge only a few days later on Mon August 28. He was also a DEW in his later years, although he was much darker as a kit. We bought them together from a pet store (the last two we got from a pet store) and they were together from that day forward. Cagemates, hammy-mates, partners-in-crime. Sam loved (bordering on a fetish) stuffed animals. Didn't matter what size, what color, what species. As long as they were stuffed. He would hide them in the corner under the futon. Occasionally I would haul them all out and toss them around the room. Sam would give me a look that said - "Don't you know that they belong in the corner under the futon?" He would start hauling them back there and, eventually, Bear would start helping him. I wish I had a video of them! We buried Sam with as many stuffed animals as would fit in the box with him. It breaks my heart that they're both gone. I haven't been able to stop crying. The remaining four have been wandering around looking for Bear and Sam. Pie O' Pah, would you please check on my boys? Tell them that I love them and miss them so much. They should have quite a crowd to greet them, especially their former cagemate Bailey, who left us a year ago. I'm guessing that Bear would have waited for his buddy Sam to follow him across the bridge - they were never very far from one another. They're just not with us for nearly enough time. A Broken Heart Momma Kelley Princess, Daisy, Bandit and Poncho Missing Ben, Jerri, Hershey, Casper, Oscar, Felix, Justin, Shadow, Bailey, Bear and Sammy [Posted in FML 6057]