"Max"

I don't believe in "luck" and I don't believe there are "coincidences". I believe things are meant to be for a reason. I had a beautiful example of that today that I wanted to share. Here's the story:

One of our new foster parents Sue, (her name's been changed) rescued several cats on Wednesday. While she was at the shelter a cat named "Calvin" really touched her heart. She didn't take him that day, but she thought about him all evening, through the night and the next morning. She said she wasn't sure WHAT it was about this 6 year old cat, but without my knowledge she was compelled to rescue him the next morning....and she did.

When I first heard that Sue rescued another cat was when our vet called and told me that Calvin needed about $300.00 in dental work. "Calvin? WHO is Calvin, and I don't have $300.00 for dental work!" But Calvin was in pain. His teeth were rotten and I authorized the dental work on this unknown cat.

The next day Sue was at work and showing pictures to other people in the office of her foster cats. A young man by the name of James was going through the pictures and stopped at Calvin's picture - "HEY! That's MAX!" Max had been missing for the past week. James hadn't worried too much because Max had a tendency to disappear and reappear periodically.

It was a miracle. Calvin and Max were the same cat and he had a home. I had a long talk with a very excited James. The poor kid - I really put him through a grueling set of questions. "Don't you know how close your cat came to being put to sleep?" "WHY the hell weren't you out looking for him?" etc. etc. I was pretty brutal with details of the shelter euthanasia process. I spared no details. I wanted to be sure that Max was going back to a good home.

Max is the family cat. I was assured over and over that Max is very much loved - James was so excited to get him home. Importantly, he was happy to pay the $300.00 dental bill too. Whew! James promised me that Max would never be permitted outside again.

The funny part of this story is that James told me that he had Max since he was in the 1st grade. I did the math...Max isn't 6 years old like the vet had thought. He's a 14 year old kitty!!

Nope. This was no coincidence. Thank you Sue -- You did more than save the life of a 14 year old cat that day. You reconfirmed in my heart that there is no such thing as "luck" or "coincidence." Sleep well, Max - you're home tonight.