Dear Mommy, Nanny & Daddy, What I love, more then anything else, is the time I get to spend with all of my brothers and sisters up here. We try to get together at least once a week, busy schedules permitting, and having a fun and relaxing day. So we packed some yummy snacks into our backpacks, as well as a half a dozen soft blankets and then hiked our way of to Ferretone Falls for the day. It was warm and lovely and oh so very blue out, and being the happy bunch we are, we invited everyone we saw along the way to come and join us. By the time we arrived I bet you there were nearly a hundred of us in all! It was amazing to see so many fur kids in one place, and being fuzzits, we are very good at making plans for getting here, but not nearly as good at getting things organized once we arrived. Then over all of the dooking and poofing we could hear a clear and very regal voice speak out and everyone paused to listen. In the midst of of all of the wonderful furry faces, there stood this petite and graceful albino girl. I'd seen her around before, and have to admit I have a slight crush on her as well ..... so *I* knew her by site, and it was the ever popular, the always so darn beautiful Sno-Vicious! Well she whipped that picnic into shape, and in no time we were relaxing on a blanket covered mountain side, enjoying a lovely buffet of craisins and raisins, chew weasels, foamy fries, chicken, red liquorice and quite a few other yummy treats AND waiting for a chance to snorkel some of that Ferretone. We played Hide-n-go-Dook and Pin the Tail on the Woozle and we talked and shared and simply enjoyed the day. My favourite part of it all was this sable fuzzit with a funny speckled nose who had packed a tube of Coke in his back pack, can you believe that? A WHOLE tube of the stuff! He just lay there on his blanket and chugged that soda like it was going out of style. I remember standing there with my brother Raphael laughing at the site of it and then Sno walked up and asked what we were chuffing over, and I pointed him out. "That's my brother Pooh. Ain't he grand?" and she giggled. I have to tell you, I was so enamoured with this lovely lady fuzz, and I was certain she could tell I was turning pink all over and under my white coat, so I did my best to play it casually. Thing is, as I was about to pull off some smooth reply, my brother Hobbes came up the hill panting and yelling and waving an all too familiar courier's bag at me. "I found you!! It took me only forever to find out where you went!" and then he looked around and added, "And why wasn't I invited?" I assured him that he had been. That invitations HAD been sent out, and his was at the top of the pile, so I know he had been on the list, but he's a stubborn fuzz and who truly enjoys grumbling, so I let him. Naturally he grumbled some more while fishing out my next assignment, and as he did a small, and distinctly familiar creme coloured envelope fell out as well. I casually stooped down and picked it up and handed it to him ..... face first so he could see the beautiful calligraphy I had used to address each and every envelope ..... and then he quickly grabbed it out of my hands and called me a wise-butt weasel .... but I saw the huge grin on his face and he turned away to read it. I remember Raph asking me who was arriving, and could he come along, and then I unrolled the scroll and read the name written on it. "His name is Blaise and guess what, he's a big handsome silver mitt like yourself!", and I showed him the snap shot that was included. Sno leaned over and asked me if she could see as well, so I showed her, and it was nice because it meant I got to stand closer to her. "That's my brother, my brother is coming!", she happily exclaimed and then she called out to the pile of lounging fuzzits and three of them perked their ears up and came right on over. One of them was the Coke- a-Cola guzzler Pooh and the other two were sable gents she introduced to me as Michael and Rocky. "We need to find Lucy and Holly, and we need to make sure we all look our best, and we to get going now!" and off she ran! She was so quick that she made my head spin and she was gone and out of my sight just like that! Lucky for me, Pooh needed to cap that tube of soda and stash it his back pack, so I had him to follow to find Lucy and Holly. I asked about you and mom and dad. I also got to hear about Aiden, a single boy with an apparent harem all of his own, which consisted of a bevy of beauties ..... (Cracker, Nellie, Scarlett, Princess, Anna Belle, Alexis and the darling Rhiannon Maggie!) We managed to make it down to the bottom of the falls without a single stumble and also managed to catch up with Sno and the others and off we went in search of Lucy and Holly. Holly was the easier of the two to locate, as we found her smack dab in the middle of a big pile of shoes. I remember that she kept going on about not being able to find a shoe large enough for her to consider "stash worthy", and how none of them seem to fit the bill, and Sno told her that Blaise was soon to arrive and she dropped everything she was doing to come along with us. She told Sno that Lucy had gone down to Murphy's Field to watch the baby kits learn how to fly and that she had plans to drop by the Viewing Pool later on that afternoon. And we were off again!!! It didn't take all that long to find Lucy, but what did take nearly forever, was all of the primping and grooming Sno insisted we get done before Blaise arrived ..... that and she also insisted that we had to put together a backpack full of balls so Blaise would have a "Welcome to the Rainbow Bridge" gift when he got here.... she was so bossy and I liked it! It was just starting to pink up in the sky as we headed towards the Bridge .... fireflys were beginning to make their early evening appearance and the night blooming jasmine was eagerly awaiting for twilight to take its bow so it could release it's heavenly scent into the night. We walked along and spoke of love and family and of all the things we deeply cherish and at the top of everyones list is always musings of our parents and of the homes they lovingly created for us. How love is the best reward ... notice I didn't say treat? It was Holly who sensed him first, and she pointed to the far side of the Bridge, "I can feel him coming and look, it's like the Bridge is glowing!" She was right, he was coming, but the glow was not coming from the Bridge, but from Blaise himself. I want to say he looked like he was larger then life, but the truth is, and as you well know it, he simply IS large! Then a light wind came up and ruffled the fur on the top of his head and made it's way down his back and he stopped and smiled. He seemed to be enjoying a private moment that was meant only for him, but it wasn't too long before he placed his first paw on our side of the Rainbow and Sno and the others rushed to him to give him a proper welcoming. There was so much dooking and war dancing and kissing and hugging that I didn't have time to even get in a welcome word in edge wise, so I just stood by with Raphael and we just enjoyed the show. Afterwards and as we were headed to the Viewing Pool, I had a chance to properly welcome Blaise. I asked him how he was feeling and he told me he felt great, that as he arrived he had carried with him the very last moment that the two of you shared together. He said, " he lay there with me, talking to me, telling me just how much she loved me and that I should look for my brothers and sister's when I got here. I heard everything she said, but for me the very best part was the comforting sound of her heartbeat that carried me along here, because it was filled with so much love. And when I arrived, that is before I came on over, I felt her hands holding me close and ruffling my fur and saying goodbye, and all I could think was, it's not forever, I will get to see you again." He looked right at me when he said that part about seeing you again and I assured him that's exactly what will happen when the time is right, but for now, we have this wonderful place where we can look upon you as often as we would like, and do you know what he did? He wagged his tail. In Love & In Comfort, Pie O' Pah [Posted in FML 6068]