Hi all-- I think I posted ecstatically around Christmas time that my SO's ex-wife and her family and his children had a ferret, and I was so relived because the ferrets gave us all something immediately in common ... (important to note that my SO and his ex have been estranged for almost 6 long years--no contact, what-so-ever--and I've been with Dave since shortly after his separation ...) Well, the ex and family moved back to MN shortly after Christmas, got settled in a town 3 hours from us, and came to visit last weekend! I can't even tell you what it was like, to see these not-so-little versions of my SO in my house calling him dad. His daughter Crissy, is 7, and his son, David Jr is 6. Amazing. We sent them pics of the ferrets, and Crissy came into our house, spied the ferret cage, and went to it immediately, telling me "I want to hold Princess. Which one is Princess?" It was crazy here, what with meeting Dave's ex-wife and 19 year old step daughter and his children all at once, and then his step-son and girlfriend here, too ... so we had 6 adults, two children, and 4 of 5 ferrets all busy in my living room at the same time. Wow! Talk about mass confusion! But it was exciting and terrific. Chalk one up to ferret ambassadors--nothing breaks the ice like a few ferrets running around busily meeting everyone and creating comfortable chaos. Whew. I imagine with horror what the situation might have been if they weren't ferret people, and, worse, if they were afraid and suspicious of ferrets-- they'd never have understood how we managed to acquire 5 of the little buggers! But it didn't work that way. Instead, the ferrets gave everyone a common frame of reference, something to talk about, and laugh about, and all in all, made what could have been a very uncomfortable meeting into a very comfortable one. I treasure my fuzzies. They have helped me get through with flying colors more than one difficult meeting. A few years ago I was meeting my half brothers for the first time. My birth mom had warned me that the younger boy was slow to warm up to new people, but he was an animal nut, so I brought a ferret with when I met them. Again, instant positive contact with a child ... and he wasn't slow to warm up at all. Fuzzies rule! Everyone take care, --Sheri [Posted in FML issue 2210]