Two precious little ones left this world today. Little Elliott had to be helped over the rainbow bridge due to increasing complications related to insulinoma. I did not know him very well but stayed with him until he passed so he did not have to go alone. He was a sweet boy, who fought the good fight as long as he could. He was a foster ferret with a bad run of luck in his last days. Elliott joins his sister Christmas who passed on a couple of weeks ago in another home. A while after coming home, my husband told me to go out and see the wind. I had been expecting to look for Elliott's star tonight. He did not strike me as a weather ferret, but I simply assumed that because I did not know him very well, he was the wind. I was wrong. He is, in fact a star ferret. Sometimes when we don't know to look or where to look, the ferrets that have passed have to give us a sign. The wind wasn't little Elliott, but rather my beautiful, perfect and precious Tobra who had left us expectedly, but unexpectedly. I hadn't checked on the other ferrets for a few hours since returning from the vet with Elliott. Tobra just got tired of waiting for me to find her so she brought on the wind. Tobra was adopted by us 5 years ago from an aquarium in a garage. She was quite the ugly duckling at the time but blossomed into a beautiful swan. She was gentle, beautiful, sweet and perfect. We did not take the news too well when we were told she had lymphosarcoma, but made every effort to make her last days the best they could be. We used to joke about our vet's comments that we had the healthiest terminally ill ferrets she had ever seen. This joking was supposed to make this time easier. It has not. I am happy to say that Tobra left us surrounded by her brothers and sisters. I am happy to say that I did not have to make the difficult decision to help her cross. I am happy to say that Tobra was my little girl. Good-bye Elliott. Your little sister is waiting for you. Please take care of her. Good-bye Tobra. You were supposed to live forever sweetie. I will have a hard time letting go of you. I am sorry if I make you stick around longer than you would like for me to. Don't worry though, I will be OK. Then you can go play with the other ferrets in the stars. Love, Mom. [Posted in FML issue 2452]