Too Much Thinking, Not Enough *Doing*

My phone hasn't been ringing lately. I don't know if this is good news or bad news. I suppose it's good news that foster homes aren't calling with emergencies, but that also means foster homes aren't calling and saying that they're ready for another cat. There's been some sickness at the shelter and the staff has been diligently vaccinating and trying to ward off any future outbreaks.

In the meantime....I wait until things are better over there.

I received an email today from a very nice woman that adopted a ridiculously cute cat from the shelter. She keeps me updated and it always makes me smile when I hear from her:

"Hi Beth, I thought you'd get a chuckle out of this. Whenever I complain/rant or whine to my significant other via email, this is what he replies with. It's Cider and according to him, she's good medicine. She is an incredibly sweet girl and we certainly can't imagine life without her. Thanks for bringing her to us."

She attaches the following picture:

How wonderful is it to be having a really crummy day and receive THAT face in an email? Heck, she's not even my cat and the picture made me grin from ear to ear.

Her email made me think how much TRUE joy our pets give us. When all else fails, they're always here for me. They're here through relationships that can't be fixed, and some have sat next to the toilet while I threw up. (Sometimes on the same day!)

I talk a lot about cleaning up cat poop and mopping cat pee. I've stepped in cat barf more times than I can count. But I'm grateful for every day that I wake up to see their little faces asking me for their breakfast. I have one cat that meows at my bedroom door at 6 a.m., then throws his hip against my closed door: "Meow!" BAM! "Meoooow" BAM!! There have been Sunday mornings where I could kill him. But I know in my heart that I would miss that little orange booger if he wasn't waking me up.

I've had evenings where I mope in bed praying for the day to be over, only to hear the bedroom door crrreak open. All I see is the cautious face of my dog Maggie. What would I have done without Maggie when I went through the breakup of my 20 year marriage?

I was married for 20 years to a man that only tolerated my love of animals. He "permitted me" to have cats and dogs as long as they didn't act like animals. You can see where this went...

Sooooooooo.....I've rambled long enough. I have no clue where this blog post is going, but it felt good to write down my thoughts tonight. I'm hoping to be back at the shelter in a few days. In the meantime, I've had FAR too much time on my hands.