Last night on the way back from the vet’s, I was driving in the right lane on a four lane highway. There was a suburban next to me in the left lane and I heard a lot of whooping and hollering coming from the driver and someone else- but with five cats in the car, I wasn’t paying attention to any other noise other than the meows. Suddenly, the suburban sped up and as it did, I saw from the corner of my eye, this fool on a bicycle! He had apparently been clinging to the driver’s side door handle and imitating a “jackass.” The bicycle rider dropped back pedaled furiously and cut right in front of me!

Not having any other option, I slammed on my brakes. Hook was in a soft sided carrier on the seat and he went flying off the seat and on to the floor. Thankfully, there were no cars behind me or I could have been in a mess. The guy on the bike (a teenager) laughed, flipped me off and took off down the alleyway. The suburban was nowhere in sight.

I don’t own a cell phone, so all I could do was pull over and shake it off. I checked on Hook, but I didn’t want him loose in my car, so all I could do was unzip the carrier and see if he was still okay. He appeared to be, so we went on home.

When I released the boys into the house, Hook was limping pretty bad. His back leg would make a thump on the ground and he wasn’t keen on doing any weight bearing. I put him inside one of my cages to let him rest and checked on him through the night. This morning, although he has a slight limp, he seems okay.

I fell asleep exhausted at about 3:00 a.m. after Pippi’s last meds. I had the strangest dream.

I dreamed that I was visited by old school mates of mine. Gals I grew up with who have gone on to have families, great marriages, careers.

They descended on my house, driving fancy cars and dressed to the nines. They inspected my home from top to bottom and made notes on their clipboards. There were five of them, and they all commented on what an “odd little life,” Mike and I led.

Jodi, now an industrial engineer left tips on how to finish out the bathroom ceiling, and the bedroom. Kelly an owner of a maid service seemed disgusted at finding cat litter on the bottom of her shoe. They all wanted to know about my kids and I talked about my cats!
Tara who is an accountant asked to see how much monies went into these creatures. I told her it was none of her business and ushered them all outside and told them nicely to go back home to their perfect little lives.

Give me imperfect any day. Give me someone who would stop their car and pick up an injured creature off the road and set it off to the side or take it to the vet. Give me someone who has to think about how much money they are spending and where instead of going to the mall and filling their bags with merchandise that is pricey and will put them into debt.

Give me a man with such a kind heart that even though he doesn’t care for cats (or he didn’t before he met me) would allow his young wife to bring in a litter of 8 abandoned kittens and set them up in the bedroom to take care of them.

Give me those kind of people and we will make a colony of caretakers that othes who rush around in their day on their cell phones know nothing about.

Something changed for me internally that day long ago when my daddy, my now ex-husband and my doctor came into that private room at the hospital and told me my newborn son died. Something cracked inside of me, changed me forever and made me who I am today. A woman who would do anything for a cat or a person in trouble. No one quite understands me, heck I don’t even understand myself at times. But this year- innudated with more kittens than I ever remember that people were just casting aside, I learned lessons about myself that even the most educated teachers could reveal.

I learned about trust, compassion, patience and most of all, I learned about prayer. I also found that there are Kitty Angels that watch over my group and to ALL of them I extend my thanks. You’ve made it possible for me to continue on this path- even after I lost my job, lost my hope and almost lost my faith.