"And then our kitty got sick".a quote from a recent e-mail I needed to write, a quote that I never EVER thought would come from my keyboard. I'm still a little in shock as to the changes our household has seen this summer.

We have a kitty.anyone who knows me probably would have been willing to bet money (even if they weren't a gambler!) that our home, our front porch, our lives, would never EVER include a kitty of any shape, size, or color. I have spent the past four decades of my life shuddering when a cat comes near me. I'm not sure where the fear came from, but it's a real feeling in the pit of my stomach and up my spine (present tense is still accurate!)

But one day in June my boss said to me "Would your children like a kitty?" My response was, "Well, yes, as a matter of fact they'd LOVE a kitty - but I wouldn't!" He may have missed his calling as a salesman because I left work that day with a kitty in the car with me.

The kids were flabbergasted, amazed, stunned, overjoyed, and a little fearful that the kitty would never bond with them. She was so traumatized by the ride home in a box that she hid under our clematis bush and hissed at them for the next 6 hours. But they persevered. Megan lay on our front porch for hours talking to the kitty, calling her by her new name (Luka) and offering her tuna fish. By nightfall their patience was rewarded. They were able to hold her, for little bits of time.

Since then, we've come to enjoy the personality of this little ball of fur. Luka proceeded to wrap their hearts around and about her. While I still haven't gotten to the point of sitting down and holding and petting her I admit, it is a sweet thing to watch the kids love on this little gray and white fur ball.

And then our kitty got sick.while Megan and Clay were at Camp Buckeye I noticed the kitty was acting.different.she didn't come running when the front door opened, she seemed to be boycotting her food. I told my hubby, "I think the kitty is either mad at us or depressed," jokingly at first, but then wondering if maybe I was onto something.

The kids came home and she climbed all over them, but she still did a lot of sleeping and didn't follow them around like she use to. And then she started to walk a little funny.and the next day she started to fall when she took a couple of steps.by evening she couldn't keep her head from wobbling and bobbing. It was pitiful, even to someone whose spine still tingles at the thought of actually holding her.

So today another first occurred in our household; we made our very first trip, ever, to a veterinarian. We feared the worst (feline leukemia?) and hoped for the best (ear mites?) and the answer ended up being somewhere in between.

Somewhere along the line our kitty fell, hard, hard enough to rupture her ear drum, hard enough to make her (hopefully temporarily) deaf.and blind. How, when, where is a mystery to us. It wasn't unusual for us to see her sitting in a bird nest in any one of our trees, or to find her nosing around on our deck having navigated the 8 or 10 steps it takes to get up to it, so the fact that she climbed somewhere and then, in her nosiness, toppled down from her perch doesn't surprise us.

But the resulting head trauma has all of us surprised, and sad. The kids are sad for Luka, Brian and I are sad for the kids.

I never thought I'd cry over a kitty.

But it's not the first time, or last I suspect, that I've cried because of and for my kids.

That's how parenting goes, that's how life goes, that's how love goes. And it's worth the risk.

But I'm sure glad I have a heavenly Dad that I can talk to about all these bittersweet moments life hands us. His word says He saves our tears.

This past week He's had a lot to save at our house.

Until next time.
Beth

Labels: Beth