When our ferret KC died so suddenly in October 1997, we still had Scooter, who was his companion. Scooter, who lived to be eight and a half, passed away the following August of an illness and received the very best care right up until his last day. When Scooter died, we had an empty household. This could not last, so in October 1998, I took a ride to Path Valley Farms in Pa. to bring another pet into our lives.
Path Valley is a long way from where I live, so I stayed overnight at a hotel located near the Pennsylvania Turnpike. This was the very same ride my wife and I took in May 1993 to get KC. When I was riding on the interstate that evening to the hotel, I saw a sign for a restaurant where my wife and I had eaten while on that trip 5 years earlier. My throat tightened up when I saw the sign. Then, as I reached the exit for the hotel, I saw another sign, this one indicating the junction on the interstate with the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Again, I felt the same feeling. I knew that sign from before.
When I got up the next morning and checked out of the hotel, it was raining and dreary. I got onto the Turnpike and started on the last leg of the trip. There was heavy traffic initially, but as I continued the drive, the weather started clearing, and the traffic eased up. Up ahead, I saw an underpass that had been cut through a mountain. We went through that underpass 5 years earlier, and I now remembered it. I was also getting very teary-eyed. The radio station I was listening to then started playing the Celine Dion song from Titanic, which was still very popular at the time. I will always associate that song with KC, because he was taken so suddenly from us, and because he never left our hearts.
Finally, I saw the exit sign for Willow Hill, where Path Valley was then located. Exit 14. I remembered the sign, and started crying. Can you imagine, a grown man crying at the sight of an exit sign?
Path Valley was a short distance off the highway, amidst rolling hills. The people there were so friendly, as they had been in 1993. They knew I was coming, and brought out a big tray full of baby ferrets. It didn’t take me very long to pick out the newest addition to our household, who we named Sasha.
I was happy on the ride back, and I knew that my wife would be pleased with my selection. In fact, Sasha bonded almost immediately with my wife, and for the last seven years they have been as close as close can be. Sasha has two companions now, Moka and Java (two boy ferrets). There are pictures in their room of ferrets of the past: Tobi (my wife’s first), Sylvester, Cinnamon, Scooter, and Jenny.
My favorite picture, though, is the one of a certain ferret who, as a baby, stood in his feed bowl, looking so silly as we took his picture for posterity. I know nothing about the extent of thought processes in small animals. However, I have to believe that KC would be very pleased that my wife and I continue to have ferrets, and continue to provide them with the love and affection that they so unconditionally give back to us. And while we love our pets so dearly, we also remember those that have passed. KC, you are still in our hearts, and as she says in the song,
our hearts will go on.
With Love,
| Paul & Randi |