Well as I drifted off to sleep last night I thought to myself...did I see Joy tonight? So, this morning while preparing the raw meat plate at 6:45 a.m., a quick head count reveals NO Joy! Joy is a raw meat piggy and would not miss chow call! So I finish preparing the plate and all the others are eating nicely. Then time to shower, get the skin kiddo out the door, all the time looking everywhere possible for my beloved Joy! Kid out the door, ferrets playing chase and catch fun time! I shower, look for Joy as I dry and change. Pulling open drawers, closets, boxes, rushing to get out the door to work! Finally, I had to leave. Very unhappy. Trying to listen to my inner thoughts and feelings to see if I can "feel/sense" where she is. I get the "feeling" she is in the house, but is that just me denying she could be outside? Irritable all day at work. Thinking about Joy. Thinking about the cats in the neighborhood I see out. There are not stray dogs or loose dogs in our neighborhood. Driving home and hear the weather forecast. Plummeting temps into the 20's by Monday. Snow flurry chances. Now I start crying...seeing my frozen baby girl in my mind. Run in the house, drop all my bags, grab the flashlight and start in one corner of the house and work my way to my room. Start in the top of the closet because my thin little Penny Pookins, the resident acrobat, LOVES to live up on this shelf. I get a chair, stand up on it...who is sitting there in her stunning beautiful winter coat? Uh-huh! Joy! "Hi Mom!, boy I love it up here, see dis suitcase? I figured out how to work the zipper! I can sleep in it"! "Hey Mom? Why you look so upset? Mom?" Thank the Lord! I lost my Lizzy on Dec 27th last Christmas due to cancer. The whole month of December last year was just awful...a disaster. I don't know what I would have done, or how I would have gotten through the holidays without Joy, or any of my ferrets not present! I feel like I do head counts every hour and still can't keep up with them!!! Silly ferrets!!!! Lindsey Tootle Dallas, Texas [Posted in FML 7634]