"Grieving is a part of life, it is deep, and can be bottomless, but if we are able to fully grieve, then it means we have also been able to fully love as well, and that is the greatest reward life has to offer" Dear Dave & Sam, I deeply apologize for not having seen to this greeting earlier, but my mum has just lost two of her own in less then a month, and I have been keeping close to her in order to help her in her time of need. The above quote is what I whispered to her last night as she lay in bed crying, and I hope that it will also be of use to you as well. We never want to leave those we love, but there is a time and place for all things that happen within our lives, and for us, leaving or rather returning to the Bridge is one of those things. When a fuzzit is welcomed into a loving forever home, it should known that we made that choice to come here and be part of your family, even if we were a foster fuzzit. (Stewart's whispering in my ear) "uchummmm" - clearing my throat and making an addition or rather an "amendment" to the above statement. Stewart said, and I quote, "That's what you thought, I may have looked like'a foster kid, but I was mostest certain that I was part of the family so ppppfffttTttTTt!" Ever seen a ferret blow a raspberry? Well I just witnessed my first! He was very clear about the family part, and after having read his scroll, I wholly agree with him. One of the definitions of foster is, "To care for or cherish", kinda of sounds like love to me, only said with more words. You guys loved Stewart, and from reading your greeting request, I can see that you not only made a place for him in your house, but in your hearts as well, and that definatley makes him family in my book! PpPpPppffFfFfftTtTTtt .... The sound of two fuzzits blowing raspberries at you! Ok, Stewart wants to get to the arriving part, he's kind of bossy, but in a good way. He told me that he took his time getting to the Bridge, because he new knew that I was busy, but also because he wanted to take his time getting here, because he wanted to treasure the memories that he made with you both. I did the same, it took me just a little over two weeks to get here because I had seven years of memories to enjoy. What he saw during his journey to the Bridge was love, patience, warmth, soft places to sleep, yummy cookies to eat, a safe place to be himself, with his last memory of being in his mom's arms as he gently passed from your home to mine, or rather to the Bridge. Imagine what it must be like to have one foot on earth, being loved to the very last moment, and one foot arriving at the Bridge and feeling love there as well. Love surrounds us when it is our time, and it will be the same for you when it is your time to come home and reunited with all of your cherished loved ones. So with that, let me tell you, when Stewart arrived, he was doing his ferret version of the happy dance, he was talking up a storm too. All about his mom and his dad and his cookies and Atone and then he was tackled by a bold and vivacious fuzzette I knew to be Baby Girl. It was out and out fuzzy chaos and of course I just had to join in, because what ferret would idly stand by and not want in on the fun? Stewart and Baby Girl are both here, and both are safe and healthy. They want you to know that they will never forget you. <more whispering, in stereo now> And that they both love you mom and dad and that neither one of you will need to worry about "if" they let you in, only "when". In Love & In Comfort, Pie O' Pah [Posted in FML 6991]