Blessed

I am truly blessed. God showers me with blessings every day and I am surrounded by his love demonstrated daily by my family and Christian friends, and even by strangers I meet along the way.

Two weeks ago, Amanda and I went to the mall. These days, I get to the mall perhaps 3 times a year because I can't walk long enough to go on a "normal" shopping trip. In order to go mall, I check out a complimentary wheelchair at Customer Service, and my companion pushes me around. This is one of those things that used to embarrass me so much that I just didn't go to the mall at all. I've learned not to be embarrassed about it. I'm grateful for the availability of the chairs, and everyone that has taken me has been very gracious about pushing me around and seems to genuinely enjoy helping me. No one has ever complained, though I know the chair gets hard to push when we go into carpeted stores.

Well, back to my story. Amanda got a job as a hostess at Smokejack, a local "upscale" BBQ restaurant. They told her to dress "nicely", and that no jeans were allowed for hostesses. While the other staff often dress much more casually, the host/hostess is expected to dress a little better, as they are in most restaurants. You'd have to know Amanda to know that her closet was simply not "hostess ready". She needed a few items to mix and match so that she could dress properly for her new job.

So we went to the mall together, Amanda pushing me in the wheelchair while we shopped. We went to Ann Taylor first, and lucked out right away, finding a perfect skirt and awesome top style that she liked so much, she got two of them (in different colors). We then went all over the mall, but didn't find anythng else.

At the very end of our shopping trip, we neared the exit where the Sharper Image store is located. I asked to go into Sharper Image, because I really like their "gadgets". We went in and Amanda patiently maneuvered me around the store, taking me to each niche and corner that caught my eye. Right in the middle of the store, there were these very luxurious all-leather massage chairs. The chairs somewhat resemble recliners, but are not fashionable enough to put in a living room or den - you can tell by looking at them that they are designed first for function, and second for looks.

I sat in a black leather massage chair that had full head to toe coverage. The massage in that chair was - well unbelievable. I've been to MANY spas and paid for MANY massages, and the quality of the massage in this chair equaled any massage I've ever received. It was truly wonderful, and I thought that it would be great especially when I'm having "bad days" with my joints and muscles.

Somehow I knew right then and there that I was going to get this chair. How? I didn't know. The price was $4,000.00 - yes you read it right and I didn't mis-type - it was $4,000.00! The price was really irrelevant, however, because I had an assurance so strongly in my heart - the Holy Spirit was telling me the chair would be mine. It was as if the Father was saying "I know what you need, and I will provide it." Days went by and I shared my "chair" experience with friends and family, each time stating confidently that I knew the chair would be provided for me. I didn't know how, but I knew it would be.

Then came last Saturday (Aug 18). Amazingly, the chair was marked down to 1/2 price because a new model was coming in. On that very same day, the chair was purchased FOR ME. I was given the reciept, and the store is calling me today (Aug 20) to arrange a delivery time. I am blessed; truely blessed. God knows my every need, wish, and desire, and he provides without fail.

There aren't too many people that would go out and buy a $2,00.00 chair to give to another person who is not even a relative, and I am 100% certain that the person(s) that bought it for me was simply being obedient to the Holy Spirit - this person was obedient to God and spent their hard-earned money on what can only be described as an exquisite gift JUST FOR ME. I feel so blessed and grateful. I know the chair will help me so much when I'm in pain, and may even help me to take less pain medication! It will also help Michael with his constant struggle with back pain.

God is good, all the time.

P.S. I think my bedroom will become very popular soon! Please stop by and enjoy a massage in my new chair, and I'll throw in a Spa foot treatment - Guaranteed to please!

A Tale of Kitties

We've had a sad run of luck with our kitty cats lately. It's so strange, because Amanda had Domino until she passed quietly in her sleep at the healthy age of 16 1/2 (very old for a cat - average lifespan for an outdoor cat is 8 years, for an indoor cat is 12-15 years). We rescued Domino from a family that was moving into dorms that didn't allow pets. If we hadn't taken her in, she was going to the pound the next day. Instead, she came and lived with us for 13 1/2 years and was well loved and cared for. She started out as an outdoor cat, but as she aged she gradually became an indoor cat for her own safety and well being. My sister in law, Michelle, was calling everyone she knew to find a home for Domino, and it was perfect timing for us. We had recently moved from an apartment (not cat friendly) to a house with a huge yard, and Amanda really wanted a cat.

Then came the string of bad luck. First there was Felix. We came home from a trip and a carpenter who had been working in our house introduced us to a new family member that had taken up residence. This kitty was a boy, and only a few months old - but old enough to survive without his mother. Somehow we became aware that the kitty in fact had a home, and that he had a litter of brothers and sisters, and that his name was Joey. So we contacted "Miss Angel" who lives in the next neighborhood over and reluctantly returned Joey to her. We had already fallen in love with him - he had such a great personality and exuded health.

"Miss Angel" was so happy to have him back that she gave Will a reward of $10 - BIG BUCKS for a 7 year old. She also let us have the pick of the rest of the litter. Joey's brother, Felix, was the obvious choice. Full of health and personality, we warmed up to each other right away. So Felix came to live with us. Felix was a beautiful dark gray tabby that had a loud purr and seemed to say "Roy" frequently. He was very opinionated, confident, and totally independent.

Felix quickly grew to his full size - which was considerable. He was a true TOM CAT. Big, strong, independent, and prone to wandering the neighborhood in search for conquests (both female felines and small birds, chipmunks, etc.). Hoping to tame him a bit and keep him from wandering into harm, we had him neutered. Neutering had absolutely zero effect on Felix. He continued to wander, and his trips lasted longer and longer until one day he didn't return.

We put up signs all around, drove around looking, and even visited "Miss Angel". Strangely enough, Joey and Felix left for good the same week. Afterwards, there were a few possible sightings at a distance, but nothing to be sure of. I choose to believe the two brothers are off living a great Tom Cat life with lots of conquests and lively memories in the making.

When we finally gave up on the return of Felix, we took a trip to the Atlanta Humane Society. Will picked out a sad little Grey tabby named 'Rufus'. Something was wrong with one of his eyes; it was milky and he couldn't see properly out of it, but Will fell in love with him, so we brought Rufus home. We took him to the vet for the obligatory neutering required by the pound, all the necessary shots, etc. and began our life together.

One day something frightened Rufus and he climbed the TALLEST tree in our yard, which was bare due to Winter, and then couldn't get himself down. We got the longest ladders we could find and tried coaxing him with the smelliest fish we could find. Nothing worked. Up in the top of that cold, barren tree he stayed, night and day for 3 full days- BRRRR!! One day when Nana was over we were looking up and calling to him and he decided to relieve himself at that precise moment. A vigorous stream was emitted for what seemed like several minutes, and we were grateful that we weren't atop the ladder in the cold, shivering with a bowl of stinky fish in one hand and hanging onto the freezing ladder with the other (Amanda says things like that always happen when Nana is around). On the forth day we gave up and started calling professionals. There aren't that many "professional cat removers" in the yellow pages, but we found a professional tree climber who charged us $400.00 to scale the tree and retrieve Rufus. After that, I never saw him climb another tree.

Rufus came to an early, abrupt, and sad end, however. He was an "in and out" cat, so it wasn't unusual for him to sleep outdoors when the weather was warm. One time he stayed gone for 3 days. I knew something was wrong; he never stayed gone that long. Will went out in the back yard to feed the dogs and came back in yelling "Mom! It's Rufus", and he was crying. I rushed out back and found Rufus's poor lifeless body being tossed around by the dogs like a rag doll. We never determined exactly what happened; whether he met an unfortunate end prior to being found by the dogs or whether the dogs had, in fact contributed to his demise. I lifted his lifeless body and put it outside the fence in preparation for burial so the dogs could no longer play with it. When Michael came home, he buried Rufus at the base of the big tree that he had inhabited just a few months prior.

Will was heartbroken, but went on the lookout right away for a new cat. He found a "free kitten" ad for a Calico and called the man that had listed it (All this at age 8 without me even knowing about it!) Apparently, a young calico passed by this man's yard every evening and he had been feeding her dinner. This had gone on for several weeks, and the man was going to take her to the pound the next day if no home could be found. I told him we would take her in (I am partial to Calicos), and the man agreed to restrain her when she came by for her dinner that night. So after a full day of work, Michael (the dog lover) drove over an hour each way across town in the cold and pouring rain to pick up this little wandering calico. When he got her home, we realized she was really a Tortie, not a Calico. She was very dark and mysterious looking with piercing green eyes. She had obviously lived "in the wild" of suburban Atlanta and was very skittish. For weeks, you would enter our home and never know we had a second cat - she stayed hidden away and only rarely would we catch a glimpse of her - a quick dark blur running from one hiding place to another. For his own reasons, Will named her 'Muffin'.

Gradually, by spending A LOT of time with her, Muffin came out of her shell. As she did, we began to realize that we had gotten more than we bargained for when we adopted her. Muffin was PREGNANT and getting more pudgy by the day. We had no idea how far along she was, but as we sat at the year end program at Mill Springs Academy, Amanda leaned over and said - "Muffin's having her babies in my closet". Now how did she know that? When we got back home, we all went up to Amanda's room and BINGO - there was Muffin in the corner of Amanda's closet, partway through giving birth to a litter of 7 kittens.

Muffin's litter - May 2005

All of this when we still had carpet on the floors! What a mess! (We have since replaced the carpet with hard floors). When she was between kittens, I gently moved her and her litter into a large plastic bin that we had been preparing to be a kitty incubator. Will and I rolled the bin into my room and stayed up past midnight (on a school night!) until all of Muffin's babies were born. I kept feeling her abdomen to see if more kitties were on the way, and we were both exhausted when I finally pronounced "No More!".

As nature goes, some of Muffins' babies survived and some didn't. From the outset, Will begged to keep "just one", PLEASE. When the kittens were old enough to separate from mom, we began finding homes for them. By that time, Will was particularly attached to a male orange medium long haired tabby, and had already named him Garfield. What's a mom to do? I let him keep Garfield. So we were a 3-cat family: Domino, Muffin, and Garfield. Domino remained, and always was, Amanda's cat. Muffin was "sort of" my cat, and Garfield was Will's cat. Surprisingly, they all cohabitated without incident. Basically, Muffin and Garfield hung out together and Domino ignored them both.

Domino had been an "in and out" cat when she was younger, and we had never had a problem, so we allowed Muffin and Garfield to be "in and out" cats too. Then came the night that Muffin didn't come in. I knew in my heart something bad had happened because she ALWAYS came in and slept in the room with me. Anytime I awoke in the night I would look around and she would be sitting there watching over me. As hours turned to days, dread built in my heart until Michael came in from the back yard with grim news. Another tragedy - it began to look like the dogs were the culprits. But why in the world would a cat go back there? And cats usually win when sparring with a dog because they can climb trees and are so dexterous with their claws. I collapsed on the stairs and broke into sobs. Big, hard, inconsolable sobs. My sweet little Muffin, rescued from the streets and turned into a friend with tons of time and patience - was gone.

Michael buried her under the "Cat Tree" alongside Rufus. We never told Will - I couldn't bring myself to do it. He thinks she has wandered to a new home, and I guess in a way she has.

This left us with Domino and Garfield. With his mother gone, Garfield seemed lost and needy. I couldn't help bonding with him. We gradually developed a routine and seemed to have a unique way of communicating with each other. Meanwhile, Domino was getting on in age and more feeble every day. We tried to keep her comfortable and excused her occasional mishaps - she had been a good and loyal friend for so many years and you don't just walk away from a friend because they are old and feeble and can't make it to the bathroom in time. Finally, in the Summer of 2006, Domino passed away quietly on my bed while I held her. She didn't seem to suffer at all. She took her place next to Muffin and Rufus under the "Cat Tree".

Our Beloved Domino - 12/1990 - 7/2006

That left us a one cat family - Garfield got all of our love and attention and warmed even my dog-loving husband's heart with his unusually tender and "non-cat" ways. Unfortunately, Garfield LOVED to go outside, and would leap at any open door or window to get there. Once outside, he would run around in the front yard, but wouldn't come in or allow himself to be caught until he was completely exhausted and hungry. It always upset me when he got out, because of the fate suffered by Rufus and Muffin. A couple of months ago, he escaped through the front door and has never come back home. He played in our front yard for a couple of days, then just disappeared. I grieved, I cried, and I am still heartbroken. We put up pictures, fliers, and went all over our area of town calling for him and looking for him, smelly Vienna sausages in hand. A couple of people called us and believed they had seen him, but by the time we got there he was gone. That makes me hopeful that he has been taken in by some one and hasn't met with any harm. I choose to believe that. Garfield was the most loyal, gentle, loving cat I've ever had the privilege of knowing.

Now we have been a family with NO CATS for the last 6-8 weeks. That all changed today. We took a trip back to the pound with the intention of selecting a Female Kitten. Female so there would be no spraying and perhaps less tendency to wander. Kitten so we could bring her up "our way". We got there and the most striking long haired Calico/Tortie looked up at me with big golden eyes and I was hooked. Her name is Hazel, though we plan to change it once we live with her a bit and figure out her personality. We took Hazel into a private "petting room" where Will, Michael, and I were able to spend some time with her. She settled down quickly and started nuzzling against us. She clearly had been loved and not abused. The owner had surrendered her to the pound due to allergies. Although she's not a kitten (she's 4 years old), we still bonded and were happy to bring her home. After the requisite paperwork, payment, interview, collaring, and crating, we headed out. Just before reaching the front door of the Atlanta Humane Society, the crate door fell off and Hazel lept towards the open front door. I made a lunge for her and landed flat on my face but with enough of her in my stretched out hands to restrain her from flight. What a sight that must have been, me and the cat all over the floor with my oxygen tank gone flying. Will got Hazel and Michael helped me to my feet.

That was when we decided to purchase a $5.00 cardboard cat crate, put Hazel in it, and try our exit again. This time we made it to the van, and subsequently back home without incident. Hazel is mostly hiding, with an occasional dart from one place to another. She has been introduced to her facilities, and has returned to them several times, so it seems things are progressing well. I'm not thrilled at her escape attempt at the pound; I fear it's an indicator that she'll try to get outside. I can only hope and pray that she won't. She is already spayed, shots up to date, and she has a microchip locater already implanted.

As a condition of adoption, Will promised to participate in weekly baths, which may not be Hazel's cup of tea (another reason we had planned to get a kitten). That's the best way to keep fleas and loose hair away. Hopefully she'll adjust to the baths with time.

Although I never had a cat as a child, I've always been a cat person at heart. One of the first things I did when I left home was to adopt a cat - my very first one after all those years of waiting! I admit I'm a hopeless cat lover; I'll always have one in my house.

Now I think I'll go take some pain meds (the fall did a number on my joints) and try to find Hazel and enjoy some quality mommy/kitty time.