Dear Katy and Sue, I am at peace now, because I was granted a most unusual and magical gift, and one that I am going to share with the both of you. A few nights ago, I was sound asleep, when I heard this voice. It was soft, yet clear, and all it said was, "I need your help Pie." Now normally when I hear voices of those who are soon to arrive, it's a whisper, a hint of what is to come, but nothing ever this clear. I got out of my hammie, and I went outside and I ran until I could find a Comfort Angel, because I needed to let them of an impending arrival. The first one I found was a jolly fellow by the name of Butter Boy. I told him about the voice and then I urged him to find a Guardian Angel to help escort this fuzzit up to the Bridge. Because that is their jobs after all. One to comfort and one to guide. But Butter Boy just stood there and smiled. He told me it was mine to answer, well I *knew* that, I answer those who ask me to greet for them, <doh> and that's what I told him. He still just stood there and told me that it was mine to answer, and I told him I didn't understand what he was talking about, and this is what he told me. "Yes, you will greet him, but not in the usual way, you were asked for specifically, and not just by his mommies, but my him as well. So it is *you* who will be going down to help him through this journey." I remember standing with my mouth agape and all I could say is,"I don't know how to do that, it's a job for you and a Guardian Angel and I am neither one of those.", I wasn't trying to be rude, but to be truthful, because the last thing I ever wanted to do was be assigned to do a job I felt I was unqualified for. He just stood there and laughed a deep rumbling laugh and told me that I knew exactly how to do this, that it was simple as going to visit my mom. Which is something I have often times done through the years. "That's easy, all I have to do is picture her face and then I am there. I don't know this fuzzit yet, I don't even know his name. I'm still new to this all, and as I greet I have been learning more, but what you are asking me to do seems impossible." I said "Not as impossible as you think Pie, come over here and sit in front of me.", and he made himself comfortable on the grass. I sat down in front of him and stared into his eyes and he looked right back at me and asked me to take his front paws ..... so I did. "I want you to close your eye's and relax." ..... So I did "Now I want you to picture Katy and Sue, I know you've seen them before. It will be just like picturing your mom, and just as easy to get there, if you let yourself relax, all right." ..... So I did The next thing I knew, I was sitting on someone's lap. I looked up and saw you Sue. You were crying, and I heard more crying and I turned and saw Katy, and her eyes were so red, and there were so many tears, but I could not see why. There was no fuzzit in their arms, there were fuzzits, but they were sleeping or playing, or eating but I didn't see where that voice had come from. Then I heard it again. "I need your help Pie." It was still clear, but not a sure as it was when I first heard him. So I looked around, and still I could not see any fuzzit. "Where are you?" I whispered, and then I felt stupid for doing that because no one could hear me. "I'm here Pie, I'm here" and I followed the voice and I find the smallest baby I had even seen in my entire life. He was so small that he would have filled one of my brown & creme tea cups and still had room to spare, and he was warmly nestled inside one of the warmest places ever ....in Mommy Katy's bra. "I see you now, your so small, what's your name?" I asked "Wookie, they named me Wookie." and he smiled a weak but happy smile. Now I'm a big fan of Star Wars, watched them over and over again, and my mum got to meet Peter Mayhew, who plays Chewbacca in the movies, and he is REALLY tall, so I know what a Wookie looks like and this was not a Wookie, but still the name suited him quite well. He was a deep, dark sable boy, with a tiny perfect white and chocolate chip of a nose, and he was so small ..... so unbelievably small. I sat back down on Sue's lap and all I could do was cry myself. This is what I am here for? To greet a life that has yet to be lived. I thought somehow this was a cruel joke, that maybe the Big Guy was upset at me for something, but as I cried I heard the soft fluttering of wings and when I glanced up I saw Aires sitting on Katy's shoulder, and there Pebbles was sitting on Sue's shoulder. Very familiar, faces to me, and ones I was very happy to see but quiet honestly, it was not all that I saw. There were colours around everything, well everybody. The fuzzits I saw had a white light tipped in gold and then a variety of colours surrounding each of them. Some green, some pink, a few light blue, and even peach. And when I looked at the both Katy and Sue, I saw so many wonderful colors there too, first there was a deep dark blue, fading into a light blue, which was turning into a baby pink, and then red, and finally a deep dark red. It was b e a u t i f u l and made me wonder what Wookie's light looked like. So I calmly climbed back up on Katy's lap and took a good look at him. He had a white light around him but it was sputtering much like a candle near the end of its wick. I actually held my breath, I was afraid that even one exhale would be enough to extinguish it, and I did not want to take the chance of doing anything wrong, so I sat back down on Katy's lap and took a deep, painful sigh. I looked up at Peebles and asked her what where the colours. She told me that they were a physical manifestation of the life force each of them had. I asked why I could not see them before. She laughed and told me it was because when I was alive and unable to see them. So I countered with. "Well I look through the Viewing Pool all of the time and I don't them there either.", Oh and she was good, some of the best debates I have had have in the past have been with Peebles. She told me that was because the pool was blocking the colours because otherwise the reflection from the water would amplify them and that would be all you would see and not your mom. Which I had to admit made sense, but I wasn't about to give that one to her, so I asked what the colours themselves. "If you look at the fuzzits roaming around you will see varying degrees of white with gold light. The white means they are pure and innocent souls, and the gold is the wisdom they carry within them, that which they share with their hooman parents." she answered. "What about the other colours then, the green, pink, blue, peach and look at that one over there, it's almost like a sparkler!" I asked. (I asked a lot of things that night. and I mean A LOT!) "The green means they are very good at nurturing other ferrets, pink are for cuddlers, or for those who like to be in a huge pile of ferret, light blue is the colour of a very mellow fellow, and peach are those that have trust issues, and the sparkly colour belongs to those that are very energetic, tenacious and often times the ones who will capture even the hardest of all hearts." said Aires. "What about the colours around Katy and Sue?", I wasn't about to stop, because as long as my mind was engaged in this small talk, or really not so small talk, but anything other then that poor baby fuzzit and his slowly fading light I was OK. "The darkest of the blue is sadness." said Pebbles "Will it go away?", I cautiously asked. "No, it may fade, and be soften by the lighter blue which surrounds it, but it never go away Pie. It's what makes them the wonderful shelter mommy's that they are because they are able to handle this type of sadness." she answered "So the light blue is sadness as well?" "No, it is the peace they will eventually feel knowing that they did everything they could to help Wookie, as well the others that have both come into and gone from their lives. It represents the good times they have had. It is also the happiness they receive from the dedication to the work they do, it is the laughter they have enjoyed, because in the end, they have committed their lives and their hearts to rescuing ferrets. And as much sadness as they may see, in the end, they will say it was really worth it all. It will eventually become the buffer which will help them deal with the sadness. The pink is their compassion, and the bond they share not only with one and another, but with the ferrets and other animals in their care. The red is love, the unconditional kind." she stopped and paused, but not in reflection, there was something more and I could tell that whatever it was, it wasn't going to be something good. So I asked, "What about the dark red?" "It's a sad thing Pie.." but before she could go on I interrupted, "I thought the dark blue was sad? Does that mean if you mixed them together and made purple it would be really sad?" Aires huffed, "OK smarty pants, now is not the time for that." So I apologized, but I think she knew deep down I was trying to deflect from a deeper truth which I was not prepared to hear. Peebles then took a deep breath and said." I only meant that it is sad that it is even there to begin with, but it's a necessary thing. It is anger. It will be useful later on down the road, but it is there, on the surface of all the colours, because it will be something that both of them will eventually deal with, when they are ready too." "Deal with how?" and I wasn't being smart either, I was serious. It was Aires who spoke this time "Anger can be a tool for motivation. In this case, it will be a tool that they will both use to try and stop this tragedy from happening again. They will go the store where Wookie was found and make certain that they either make sure that ferret goes back to the breeder until he or she is ready to be brought back to the store, or they will make certain to call Mommy Katy or Mommy Sue and have them come and get them and take proper care of them. They will also try to do their best to advocate for the breeders to be far more careful when choosing kits to be brought to the pet store for perspective parents to adopt." "It doesn't seem fair at all." It's what I said, and it wasn't much, but it was how I felt. "Life is not fair, I have heard hoomans say that all the time. In a perfect world, we would be born to loving ferret parents, then when we were old enough we would get to choose our forever family and we would live good, long lives, as long as our non-fuzzy parents. But our lives are not a dream. they are a reality, and the reality is we are here for only one reason, and one reason only." said Peebles. "Unconditional love." I piped Peebles then took the point of one slender finger and put it on the tip of her nose, and then she took the other paw and pointed it right me - on the nose I was. We watched as Katy removed Wookie from his warm place in her bra, and handled him over to Sue, who did the same. She placed him right inside of her bra, and she made sure he was good and comfortable. "It's time Pie." Aires said, and I knew to say nothing more. I watched, and I saw what I can only describe as the most glorious thing I had ever seen in my entire life. Peebles reached around Sue's shoulders with the tip of one wing, carefully wiped tears away from Sue's eyes, and with the other tip she gently touched Wookie on the top of his head, and slowly moved it down his back. Aires did the same for Katy and then held out her arms. And in unison they both said, "As above, so below, as within, so without, and with the universe, so then the soul." Then Peebles withdrew her wing tip back, gently folded it back under, and waited. I saw this wisp of mist forming right above the area where she touched Wookie. The wisp made a lazy circle, and the a second lazy circle, and then it made its way towards Aires. Aires held out her arms to the mist and it came to her and became a ghostly version of Wookie. I could barely make him out, but you could tell it was a tiny baby fuzzit. The only thing that seemed unusual was that as he formed in Aires arms, there was still a thin, misty strand that went from the very end of Wookie's ghost tail and was still tethered to his earthly form. Peebles flew off of Sue's shoulder came around to Sue and kissed her on each tear stained cheek, and I saw as some of Sue's life force lit her up, then she flew over to Katy and did the same thing, and then hovering over Wookie she kissed him on the top of his misty form. Now when I tell you I saw colours, I saw colours. All of the life force that Peebles had gathered around her was now fading away and filling the ghost form with a life force brighter then anything in the room. It was so bright that at one point I was forced to cover my eyes and peek through my paws at what was going on, because trust me, I didn't want to miss this. I watched as the light continue to fill him, from the top of his head, to the tip of his wispy white tail, then it slowly travel down the thin tether to his earthly form and the wisp broke away, and the life force came back up the tether back into Wookie and he was whole in Aires arms. All soft, dark sable, with bright happy eyes, and he looked right at me and said. "Help them, be here and help them, please.", and then he rolled over and went to sleep in Aires arms. Then both she and Peebles kissed their mommy's on their cheeks, whispered that they loved the both of you, and then they were gone in a wink of an eye. I hugged you both as best I could, and hope you felt it too, and then I wondered how I was going to get back to the Bridge and write my greeting to you. About that time I heard more fluttering, and at first I thought it was Peebles and Aires coming back, but it wasn't, it was your gang, plus dozens and dozens of other angel fuzzits. Some I knew, some I didn't, but none of that matter, what did is that they were there with the both of you and I could go on and do my job. So I curled myself around Katy's heart, because I knew she needed me most and I went to sleep When I next opened them I back on my lawn, back at the Bridge, and sitting in front of Butter Boy. He had such a peaceful smile on his face, "See, that was easy, wasn't it?" he said. "There was nothing easy about that, seeing how torn up they were, how much pain they were both in. In was such a gut wrenching loss." I grouched. Butter Boy took a deep breath and then he told me, "Do you remember when your mom told you about our life commitments, how we get to chose what we would like to experience in our earthly lives and how long we would like to stay there? Some chose to stay for a real long time, while others chose a year, or a month, sometimes even a day, or a few minutes even." "But why? I don't understand why?" I was really upset by then. "Let's use a sport analogy to help you out all right?," and without bothering to let me answer, he went on."Suppose you have a desire to play a sport, but you aren't certain which one you'd like, so you try a few out. Say you try tennis, but find it too hectic and after a few weeks you give it up. Then you try archery, but find that you need glasses.." "But I don't need glasses, I got 20/20 ruby-red eye site!." I boasted. He just gave me *that* look and went on, "It's a hypothetical situation Pie, could you please play along?... :pause:... So you give up archery after one day and then you try, ummm..." "Baseball!!!!!" I was really getting into this now. "OK, you try baseball and you find that you are good at..." "Cornering!!!!!!", I snorted and giggled (OK, so I got a poop joke in, so sue me!) Butterball just rolled his eyes and continued on, "As I was saying, you try baseball, and you find you are good at it, so you stick with it, and you do well and it's something you enjoy, so you are able to do it for a long time." "OK, I get that, but how does work with Wookie's short life?" I asked. "Wookie chose his life to get a very important lesson across, he came to earth for such a short time so that people like Katy and Sue would be mad, but not just mad, they would be motivated by his circumstances, and will take action. The sad part is, that sometimes in order to define our lives, and to teach the lessons we are sent to earth to teach, we often times will purposely chose a shorter life span in order to make our point." And he laid back on the lawn, put his paws behind his neck and a few moments later I could hear him softly snoring. I think I understand now. Wookie came there to be with you, and to let you know he and others like him need someone to be their advocates, and I know that you both quite capable of doing just that. So keep up the good work, I'm always rooting for you! "Go Team Arkansas!!" This was such an amazing evening for me, and I was able to be there with the both of you, I gave you comfort ... well I tried my best, but I'm new at that sorta thing. But my love for you is not, nor is Wookie's and neither is his job done. He, like a certain fuzzit I know named Fudge, will be back one day, so you both better keep an eye out for him. Sleep peacefully this evening knowing that he is now safely tucked away in the arms his new caretakers, and like you they will do everything possible to make his life here the very best thing in the whole wide Rainbow Bridge. In Love & In Comfort, Pie O' Pah [Posted in FML 6822]