Dear No. 421. I lost yet another piece of my heart....my Cole passed late last night and I am hoping you will see that he meets Skye and his brother, Wicked, and his long-time cage buddy, Reagan. I did not ask for greeting for Wicked and Reagan and they are already at the Bridge. Both Wicked and Reagan passed over in August of 2008. Wicked and Cole are truly brothers and litter-mates born in 2002. Both gorgeous deep-black sable boys. Cole was always the larger ferret by about a pound. When they were kits, Cole chewed on his brother Wicked's ear a bit and Wicked's ear was a bit deformed after that. But Wicked earned his name by being feistier and tougher than his bigger brother. But both boys were very close and loved to play. Cole was my big bear -- a real sweetie and he loved to be held and cuddled while Wicked earned his name by getting into all kinds of mischief. Wicked would run around doing all kinds of ferrety things and in about an hour, come looking for me and lay flat next to me while I cleaned cages. They have a sister, Dagmar, who is a very tiny black sable girl who always was a bit nippy until this last year. She is ailing now but remains with me on earth and loves to be hand-fed. Reagan was one of my first surrenders. A high-white silver with a sparkling personality and a permanent smile. Always a sweetie ... and always a buddy to any ferret who was lucky enough to be in his playgroup. Reagan immediately stole my heart and became my most favorite ferret of all time. One of his most amusing traits was that he would literally move his head to and fro when he walked as if he were whistling or something. And he loved, loved raisins. He was really the ferret who named the shelter even though Jack The Ripper became our first "spokesferret." Jack-Man-Doo passed over the Bridge in December of 2005. Reagan and Wicked passed a week almost to the hour apart. Reagan on Saturday at 4:41 a.m. and Wicked the next Saturday at 4.17 a.m. I know when they left this earth as I was holding them...stayed up all night. Same with Cole. He left this earth early this morning at 1:35 a.m. Dear No. 421, please see that Cole finds his long-lost buddies and meets up with Skye at the Bridge. Cole has so many ferret friends waiting for him......I miss all of these kids soo very much -- and now most of my own ferrets have passed leaving me with shelter kids to love and care for. Funny.....you think your heart can't possibly break any more after loosing ferret after ferret after ferret in the shelter over the years and then when you loose one of your own personal pets.....(typing through tears)....words simply cannot describe the pain. And, it becomes worse when you think you sacrificed precious time from your own pets to care for the multitudes of rescues and surrenders over the years and wonder if you did the right thing. Did I? Please let these precious boys know that their mom loved them deeply and misses and will continue to miss them each and every day -- even though I did not spend nearly enough time with them that I wanted. Maren Doshier Founder/President Raisins From Heaven Ferret Rescue & Sanctuary Hernando, MS [Posted in FML 6522]