More about the Stockholm visit tomorrow, but for today: my girls.

I met X Partner Unit at the SAS Cargo terminal, he gave me a slight wave and we walked into the terminal. The snow was falling, as it had been every day since we arrived in Stockholm. We swept into the terminal, and there on a table was the kennel.

And inside were my two babies, looking stressed and upset.

My babies. My girls. My two bright and perfect black and white princesses. At once I fell to my knees in front of the cage and thrust my fingers into the mesh. 'My babies.' I whispered, wiggling my fingers and feeling the white hot rush of tears in my eyes. 'My girls.'

And they thrust the sides of their cheeks against my fingers and I thought: Oh God I missed you both so much.

X Partner Unit and I continue through the transaction, a gentle settled feeling between us, unspoken words of an unspoken life. After the paperwork is filled out, he takes them out of the kennel one at a time and hugs them tightly, hugging and holding Maggie (his favorite) a little while longer, whispering strings of kind words in Swedish. His voice gets hoarse and his eyes get red, and he excuses himself to the toilet for a minute, I think to cry.

And I think: I know how it feels to say goodbye to them. I am so sorry, but I will love them so much you never have to worry about their happiness.

I give him a bottle of nice Glenlivet as a thank you. He drives me to the terminal and drops me off, giving me a hug goodbye.

I meet Angus in the terminal. It's time to go home. It's time to be with my babies in England, the place that I know and love.

The journey was not easy. On the airplane, I read Augusten Burroughs' new book and found myself thinking: You shouldn't laugh. Maybe something is wrong with your babies in the cargo hold (the UK won't allow non-guide animals in the cabin, they have to travel as freight).

As it turns out, I was right.

We get our bags and hustle to the Animal Reception Centre-it sounds like a place where animals are knocking back champagne and relaxing in a hot tub, but the truth is, it's where cages of bars and months of agony lie. It's the quarantine reception place. It's where I will learn if my girls can stay with me or be locked away in a cold steel cage for 6 months, should they find anything remotely wrong with the papers.

It turns out the papers were fine.

But something else had gone wrong.

The vet came out, a blaze of blond hair and concern.

'We have your cats. Did you sedate them?' she asked.

I felt my heart lurch. 'Yes, why?'

'We had to deliver emergency treatment.' She says, looking me dead on.

I feel my face and my future crumble.

After a long explanation that she has to deliver twice I am so wildly panicky, it turns out that Maggie nearly died on the plane journey after a severe reaction to the tranquilizers, necessitating emergency vet treatment (did you know you shouldn't tranquilize animals for airplane rides? I learnt it today, in a very big way.) She was in the kennel, lying on her back with only the whites of her eyes showing. She had to have emergency warming treatment and medication. Mumin was under the blanket in the kennel, a trick she loves. They were placed in a warming kennel and revived, suffering only from some grogginess and a wobbly back pair of legs on both of them.

There were many, many tears from me-of joy, of stress, of despair that one of my girls nearly died.

The ride home was nervous happiness until I heard a weird moan. A strange, supernatural sound that I couldn't identify. I turned around and realized it was Maggie-Maggie, the one that nearly died. Maggie, my motion-terrified cat, my howler on car rides. She was trying to howl.

I have never in my life been so happy to hear her howl.

And now I am in heaven. My girls are home. They are completely ok. They remember me and are so loving it makes me weep with the natural trusting joy that comes with a beloved family pet. They follow me around the house and have slung themselves across my lap (in fact, Mumin's on my lap now impeding my typing, and I absolutely couldn't mind less). I have waited for this day for so long, that now that it's here, I couldn't calculate the utter peace and joy that it would bring me even if I tried. I could use words to try to describe how I feel, only I just can't find any. I don't think they've been invented yet. And the fact that they seem to love and trust Angus just drives it all to home-this is my family, and I love them so much it hurts.

This is Maggie and me.

And maybe you'll let me have an advertising cliche here.

Maggie when purchased: 200 kronor ($20)
Mumin when purchased: 200 kronor ($20)
Maggie and Mumin's rabies shots: 3600 kronor ($360)
Maggie and Mumin's microchips: 1800 kronor ($180)
Maggie and Mumin's final shots on Saturday: 1000 kronor ($100)
Weekend trip to Stockholm to get Maggie and Mumin: 3600 kronor ($360)
Shipping Maggie and Mumin on SAS: 4800 kronor ($480)
Having my babies home with me: Priceless.

-H.

Posted by: Everydaystranger at 08:34 PM | Comments (25) | Add Comment
Post contains 939 words, total size 5 kb.

1 Oh my goodness Helen, my heart just about dropped through the floor reading about Maggie. I'm *so* very glad your girls are home and happy. Wonderful.

Posted by: leda at November 29, 2004 08:47 PM (hijC9)

2 They are beautiful! I'm so glad that despite the horrible experience, they are both fine now. Enjoy!

Posted by: Holly at November 29, 2004 09:06 PM (6Z5mA)

3 That's wonderful. I'm happy you all are home safe and sound, although it sounds as if it was touch and go there for a little while. Imagine, vets on call at the airport. I'd never heard of such a thing. How interesting.

Posted by: RP at November 29, 2004 09:45 PM (LlPKh)

4 Welcome home Meow Meows!

Posted by: Jessica at November 29, 2004 10:07 PM (DCWs3)

5 They are so darling! And thank you, Helen, for sharing the warning about tranquilizing pets for traveling. I would never have known and would almost certainly have done the same for such a journey if I'd ever had to fly my kitties--so glad the close call wasn't any closer.

Posted by: ilyka at November 29, 2004 10:57 PM (KiirD)

6 I'm sooo glad to hear they're home!

Posted by: emily at November 29, 2004 11:43 PM (6RZ2o)

7 :-)

Posted by: Jennifer at November 29, 2004 11:58 PM (h4s5/)

8 Yay! Yay! They're home!!!!

Posted by: Boudicca at November 30, 2004 01:49 AM (XH1zZ)

9 yay for kitties!! so glad they're home safe and sound with you and angus. have they met the tabby bomb yet? my kitties say welcome home to your fur balls! xoxox

Posted by: kat at November 30, 2004 02:09 AM (FhSIP)

10 WOOHOOO for the babies home again ....I really cant say how happy I am for you Helen..life is full of things that we love.

Posted by: butterflies at November 30, 2004 02:17 AM (sUcgQ)

11 Yay! I am so glad that you have your girls back in your arms! When I heard that you call Maggie "Maggie-Maggie" I gasped ... I choked on my saliva again when I saw the picture of you holding her. I knew that your girls looked a lot like mine but your Maggie and my Maggie could be twins ... except mine would be the plumper of the two. And ... I call my Maggie "Maggie-Maggie" all of the time. It all just makes me squeal with kitty love. Heh. Mind you, my Hub calls Maggie "Mooo-gie" .. she gets her revenge by sitting on his head at night and meowing into his ear.

Posted by: Michele at November 30, 2004 02:29 AM (Ma3vZ)

12 Whoo hoo! They're home! They're home! I'm so happy for you - I know how wonderful it feels to be reunited with your kitties. I'm glad that they were able to treat Maggie in the cargo hold - when I shipped my cat to the US from Germany, I don't think that was even an option. I was warned not to sedate him though; it sucks that you weren't. I'm so glad they are home.

Posted by: Christine at November 30, 2004 05:01 AM (I7uLT)

13 Oh god you scared me, Helen! Oh I'm so glad they are okay. Poor Maggie....oh thank god. So happy for you and yours. :-)

Posted by: Amber at November 30, 2004 05:10 AM (zQE5D)

14 Beautiful cats Helen. They are gorgeous!

Posted by: Snidget at November 30, 2004 05:22 AM (kTVt/)

15 Michele-I DO call her maggie-Maggie! And I call the other one Mumin-Mumin (ten out of ten for originality, huh?) but in a voice about ten octaves higher. And they are fatter. My God they gained weight with X Partner Units. They're like beavers with black and white fur, I swear. Spread the word-don't tranquilize animals on flights. Their body temps drop too low, and in fact going over 8000 feet is already a natural tranquilizer for animals.

Posted by: Helen at November 30, 2004 07:05 AM (4tEWI)

16 Oh, and I love you all for being so happy that my girls are home. I really do.

Posted by: Helen at November 30, 2004 07:07 AM (4tEWI)

17 I'm so glad they're home safe! I didn't know about not tranquilising them! When I moved up here my cat and dog flew freigh (charming, isn't it?), and we gave them both tranquilisers first. They were both ok though. Even if Jeffrey was a little indignant at having to travel in a cage.

Posted by: melanie at November 30, 2004 09:03 AM (Ovq6h)

18 That's spooky about the tranqs but it's great that everything worked out and the girls are okay. Give 'em a welcome home hug for me too. Just don't tell anybody - it might get back to the three spots of evil back here and they're quite jealous. And vindictive.

Posted by: Jim at November 30, 2004 10:03 AM (GCA5m)

19 All of this cat talk is making me miss mine. 1st born wants another cat. Perhaps we'll get one soon...

Posted by: Easy at November 30, 2004 01:20 PM (U89mk)

20 I'm so glad that you and your kitties are home safe! It's such a lovely glowy feeling to know that y'all are reunited.

Posted by: Marian at November 30, 2004 03:34 PM (Tl2xh)

21 Your babies are home for the holidays!

Posted by: Marie at November 30, 2004 07:49 PM (PQxWr)

22 Yay!! I'm glad you're home and your babies are with you. What a wonderful reunion. I'm glad they survived the flight. I was on pins and needles at that point in your story!

Posted by: Lisa at December 01, 2004 02:34 PM (Wu7QI)

23 so happy to see pictures of your babies I was hoping you'd have some up! I'm sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, happy for you.

Posted by: Jadewolff at December 01, 2004 04:53 PM (8MfYL)

24 Life is complete when you have the furry members of your family close again, isn't it? So glad they made it through the difficulties and are there to impede your typing.

Posted by: scorpy at December 01, 2004 05:01 PM (H5l19)

25 I can't imagine being away from my kitties for as long as you have been separated from Maggie and Mumin. The one time one of our cats went by air, he was allowed in the passenger compartment - for that, he was tranquilized, and John tells me that all the flight attendants fawned over his cuteness (the cat's cuteness, not John's!) You will have a Merry Christmas! Oh, and I was mostly right with my prediction for you this year, only I thought you would have to find someone other than Mr. Y. I'm so happy that you and Angus are together. Someday I'll tell you our very similar story - only it won't be nearly as well-written or engaging as your story!

Posted by: Beth Donovan at December 01, 2004 11:59 PM (10rgs)

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