fidget

My Beloved Fidget, January ? 1997 - March 2,2005

You were my first ferret, and my first rescue effort, opening my eyes to the abuse, neglect, and lack of decency in human beings.
You were an abused baby named Taz, vicious, hungry and filthy. You bit, clawed, and hissed through your first bath. Then you ate, and ate, and ate. I renamed you Fidget when you wouldn't sit still. Three days later you gave me kisses. And then you danced.

You were my inspiration to rescue many more fuzzies, and became our logo and mascot. More than a hundred rescues in the first 5 yearsof your life. Ferrets who were angry, frightened, injured, sick, and sometimes dying. Ferrets who never knew love before, but they learned, and they danced.

I called you my "Li'l Fidge" "Squidgee" "Fidgey-Widget"
"Fidgery-Doo" and many other silly nicknames, and you came to every one of them. You learned to do tricks like "sit up" and "beg"
and hop through a hoop. Anything for a raisin. And you danced.

You were the sock biter,beggar of ferretone, stasher of raisins, admirer of christmas trees, stealer of Twizzlers, lover of babies, and bane of the household cats. You were my traveling companion, "Demo Ferret" couch buddy, lap inspector, hair stylist, dishwashing assistant, vaccuum slayer, broom rider and gate climber. There was no such thing as "too high" for you. Every barrier was your personal Everest. You taught me to ferret-proof EVERYTHING, but with you it never worked. I watched you achieve your goal every time. I always put you back on the other side of the gate, but you would celebrate your victory anyway, so we danced.......

You inspired me to make up silly songs or parody others. Some were funny, some were sweet, and some were stupid. But you danced anyway.

You never failed to give me a kiss.
You taught the dogs to respect ferrets by dangling from their top lip until they cried "uncle."
You always seemed to be smiling at me.
You kept company with over a hundred other ferrets in my life, mostly rescues, some of them our own, never begrudging them your mommy's attention or love. Each time I reached for you, you were waiting. We kissed, and cuddled, I put you down, and we would dance.

You were always the first ferret that my baby kits were introduced to (besides their mothers). You were kind and gentle, patient and playful. From you they learned not to be afraid of strangers.
You taught them to dance.....

Despite the odds, you lived to be eight years old without getting adrenal cancer, insulinoma, ulcers, or any other old age illnesses.
Not Bad for a Marshall Farms ferret.
You always had love in your eyes. Alway, always. Even after getting your tooth pulled, you kissed me immediately, grateful to be free of the pain of a rotted molar. Right away, you danced.

I could go on forever about your near-human intelligence, your never ending love, your patience when I was slow to understand you.
As you grew older, I watched your sable coat get silvered.You slept more, ate less, but you danced, oblivious to your years.

Now, only in my heart, and only in my memory and in photographs, will I see you dance.
When someday we meet at the Rainbow Bridge, once again we will be together, this time forever. Together, with all our other friends, we will cross that bridge.
And we will dance.

click above photo for larger view

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