She'll be ten tomorrow. I really can't believe it. Parents always say those things, but it's true. These kids are growing up so fast that it is unbelieveable.
She told her friends that instead of presents for her that she would like donations to the Humane Society. We have a pile of treats, toys, a lesash, and even a check to take in.
"I wish we could just adopt all the animals at the Humane Society," she said wistfully.
"Me too, hon, but we can't. This is a nice thing to do for them."
And I remembered her birthday from two years ago when we did adopt a pet. "All I want for my birthday is a pet of my very own," she said.
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From August 31, 2005
"It's surreal," said the woman on the radio talking about the devestation of her home due to the hurricane.
In the back seat a little black kitten sat in a cat carrier next to the birthday girl who was smiling and giggling in a charming way. She's been begging for a pet for months.
We were listening to the news as we drove home from Beatrice where we went to an animal shelter that was overrun with cats and was running a "special." Instead of the usual $100, the adoption fee was $35. They just wanted the cats to go to a good home. I emailed the application yesterday and got interviewed last night. We got ok'd.
So despite the cost of gas, we made a road trip.
We visited the shelter and met about thirty kittens. Then we headed down the street to a "foster" home which is really the plumbing shop.
Only in a small town would a place like this exist.
We met another twenty kittens and the foster mom / plumber.
"I can't decide!" squealed my daughter as a tiger kitten lept onto her shoulder, a black kitten with white socks snuggled in her arms and three orange tabbies circles her legs.
"Ooh! She's so pretty!" she exclaimed as a tortise shell kitten curled up on a cushion.
We narrowed down our choices and she asked, "Where did he come from?" She was holding a black kitten who snuggled into her patiently and was quiet.
The parent in me felt impatient. Sheesh. It's a shelter. It's an abandoned cat. Some idiot didn't spay or neuter their cat.
"He and his sisters were abandoned on the road in a box," the foster cat mom explained. "It was one of those hundred degree days and when we got them they weren't in the best of shape. One of his sisters didn't make it. The other sister got adopted. She was sweet just like him," she explained.
This cat is a cuddler. And I knew that my daughter was looking for a pet to haul around - to carry and pet and talk to. She's just that kind of kid.
"His name is Jake? Can I change his name?"
"You can change it to whatever you like. I named him Jake after one of my favorite cats. I lost him - he died. His personality reminded me of my Jake," she explained.
"I think I will keep his name as Jake," said my daughter.
So we took Jake home. And on the highway North we listened to NPR and the interviews of those who survived the hurricane. We listened to the observation that it was surreal. I felt a bit guilty about our happiness. I felt funny about being smug rescuing a kitten that had almost died in the hot Nebraska summer because someone abandoned him in such a cruel way. Why does it matter? What is a stupid kitten compared to the human life that was taken today in cruel and senseless ways? You can mire in hopelessness. You really can. It would be oh so easy for me. I seem to be prone to it.
I felt happy and sad at the same time in that car as I listened to tragedy on the radio and giggles in the backseat.
It is all life. The tragedy - big and small scale - and the giggles.
It was surreal.
