Finding Kittens, Finding Me

I've always loved animals, ever since I was 9 years old and found an injured pigeon outside of church in the parking lot. I begged my mother to take that bird home and let me keep it, and she reluctantly said yes. Now, it soon followed that I found another pigeon, wounded on the street and took it home, also. Those pigeons became more pigeons, and I joined 4H where I expanded my collection to include chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, quail, doves, dogs, rabbits, and guinea pigs. I did very well in 4H, and in high school I joined FFA. I got a job at Hardee's, saved my money, and bought a pony that I named Blackie. Blackie was followed by a horse named Sandy, and then I got pregnant. I was 19 years old by that time, still living at home, still having all my animals, and my mother said that they all had to go except the dogs. I had to grow up because I was going to be a mother. I was sad to have to get rid of my loved ones, but I realized that as an adult I had responsibilities that outweighed my love for animals, so my collection was divided up between several children who needed animals for 4H.

I married the father of my child, moved far away from home, and began the journey of being an adult. With very few skills in that area, it was difficult, but I made do. My marriage ended three years after it began, and a year after that I was married again. I was a wife and a mother. There was no room in my life for childish desires, so I buried my love of animals deep within my heart and moved on. Marriage number two ended in divorce as well, my children grew up, and I was alone for the first time in my life.

I got a little apartment of my own and eventually adopted a cat. But I didn't know anything about cats, and we struggled to get along. A year later, I met a wonderful man who was unlike anyone I'd ever met before. We dated seriously for a while, got a second cat, then obtained a home of our own. The four of us moved in. I remember it was springtime, and I spent my days unpacking and turning an empty house into a home. One year slipped into two, then three. We got along wonderfully, him and I, but my days were empty while he was at work.

Now it was Fall of the third year, and I was walking to the post office, when I noticed two little bundles of fur just off the edge of the sidewalk in the grass. I walked over to them and saw that they were the cutest tiny kittens that I'd ever seen, and I scooped them up into my hands and returned home. I found a cardboard box to put them in, then wondered what on earth I was going to do with them. What did I know of kittens? Not much, but I loved them already. I reached into the box, stroked their little heads, and promised that I would take care of them. I got a small bowl of milk for them to drink and spent the rest of the day with them until my significant other got home from work. I didn't know what he would think or say, and was a little nervous, but when he walked in the door, and I showed him the box, he loved them, too.

A few days later, I went for a walk in the same area where I had found the kittens, and to my surprise, I found two more. They were a bit harder to catch than the first two, but I picked them up and carried them home. I cleaned out the hall closet so that the four of them would have a cozy place to stay with water and a tiny litter box. When my significant other returned home that day, I showed him the new ones, little orange tiger cats, and he was taken with them, also. The next day he came home with a book written by a famous kitten rescuer out of California. It had all of the information that I needed to care for my little babies, and I could not have loved him more at that moment. Over the next week, I added six more kittens to my group of orphans, and gave them the run of the kitchen. I bathed them and fed them. They needed to be weaned and I needed to know how, so I contacted a lady at a local kitten rescue and thus began a lasting friendship. I became a kitten foster parent that day, and over the next year would help over 21 orphan kittens. It was wonderful, and I realized my childhood love of animals was not childish. It is who I am. It's me, and I embrace it.

We've seen nearly 40 cats and kittens come through this house and go on to be adopted into loving homes. Some were easy, and some were near to death when we got them, but we never lost one. My significant other repeatedly calls me Dr. Dolittle and makes me smile. I had to stop fostering kittens due to health reasons, but I'm still very much involved in rescue. Interestingly, we kept the only two kittens that ever bit me, and they are the most wonderful cats any person could want. In addition, we also have a dog and a guinea pig. I love them so much, but not as much as I love the man who helped me rediscover my authentic self - the animal lover that I was born to be and will never bury again.