This is a screen shot of the last game Morgan was playing with her dad Steve before she died.  Morgan sent her “move” to Steve’s phone just over a week before she was killed  Morgan was completely engaged in her life up until the night she was murdered, unlike what the sheriff & coroner’s office would like people to believe.  They have tried to minimize the fact that she had a predator(s) after her.  They try to deflect and cover up her murder.  Luckily for us we have many, many pictures, videos, text messages, voice messages, witness testimonies, etc. that prove she was completely engaged & busy living her life up until the night she was murdered.

It didn’t matter where Morgan was at the time, but she would usually take a moment to send a “move” to Steve or myself on Words With Friends…she was always playing separate games with both of us.  It seems crazy now to think about it, but in the midst of fighting for our very existence, our own human nature causes us all to try to continue the simple pleasures of what had been our normal lives. I wonder if this was just our minds trying to pretend everything was just fine…or is it part of our survival mode?

Morgan taught us many things, one of which was to appreciate every single day of our life.  When you think about the ones you love, right then and there take a moment to reach out to them, whether it is a phone call, a kiss, a hug, or a simple game between phones…it is always a reminder to them that you are thinking about them and they mean so much to you.  That’s all it takes…the simple things in life that mean so much, especially when they are suddenly gone someday.

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living.  We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.”  – Dale Carnegie

Morgan with her sweet little ferret that she named Angel.  Angel appeared to us one night as we were driving out of our garage on our way to Morgan’s brother’s hockey game.  I remember it was dark and cold outside. It was snowing lightly and as Steve backed out of the garage we noticed movement caught by the light from our car’s headlights. We couldn’t decide what it was, but it certainly looked like a little animal in distress, as it was being chased by a cat.  I immediately asked Steve to stop the car, I jumped out and went towards the front of the car to see if it was still there.  It certainly was, and as soon as it saw me it ran towards me.  I could see it was a little creature, but I wasn’t sure what it was.  It seemed to want me to pick it up, it kept trying to jump up my leg so I started to walk in circles not knowing what to do.  All of a sudden Morgan opened up the back door of the car, stepped out, bent over and picked up the little creature.  She cradled it in her arms like a baby and it snuggled into her.  I was shocked…I didn’t know if it was wild or not.  I didn’t know if I should be worried that it might bite her, but she was instantly convinced that it was sweet and gentle, and just wanted to be cared for.

Morgan insisted on putting the little ferret (she informed me it was a ferret) into our heated garage, and we all continued on to the hockey game.  When we returned home our first concern was what to feed the little ferret.  The next thought was to make fliers to post in the neighborhood to see if someone was missing this adorable little creature.  He was very tame and Morgan was in love with him.  He slept in her room with her.  The posters went up but no one ever called.  We came to find out that this little ferret, who she named Angel, was a little sugar addict.  He could sniff out anything that had sugar in
it and he would climb up, grab it and then go behind Steve’s dresser where he would stash it under clothes in one particular drawer.  It was hilarious – Steve would open his drawer and find all kinds of candy, sugar packets, even a large chocolate bar once under his clothes. Angel was a truly amazing little creature.

Little Angel used to make all of us laugh.  He would come in the bathroom while you were in the shower, find the pants you had just taken off and placed on the floor and he would climb in and out of the pants legs – peeking in and out as though these were his own personal ferret tunnels.  He was constantly jumping around, making funny noises & doing funny things making us all laugh.

 It was very, very sad for all of us when Angel finally passed many years later.  Morgan had given her little ferret a very appropriate name when they first found each other.  I truly believe Morgan’s little ferret is now with her again, jumping around, climbing onto her shoulder and giving her little kisses on her face.  Just the thought of this makes me happy.  Ferrets are pure happiness…