how we feel...: MISTY finds an adoptive home!

Camilla--asleep and totally clueless about all of this--has yielded her space because she knows how happy
I am right now;
how exhausted Jacuzzi and Misty are; and how, from my point of view as feline "caretaker," that when you let go of a emotional (wanting to control) need, you open the door to a creative answer. At least, that is what has happened to me, over and over again.

Case in point: Cats Misty and Jacuzzi lived with me for a number of years, then with my son. He recently felt the need to simplify because he is taking care of his toddler daughter and it is over-the-top demanding.

Jacuzzi came to my place in Ellicott City, which immediately changed the peaceful relationship I had with Camilla. Better now; they are in a sleep cycle and I should be there too, but time is of the essence. I have things to do later on this evening.

Misty went into boarding at Lewis Animal Hospital on Route 108 in Columbia, MD--an excellent place and one I have always used over the years with cats and dogs alike. Then, after vaccinations to make her eligible for boarding, I left Misty at Lewis until today, May 12, 2011, and returned to Camilla and Jacuzzi at home to begin the task of finding Misty an adoptive home--through channels. Almost immediatelyl, I discovered that the no-kill refuges (aka shelters) do not want senior animals...anything over five years is usually unadoptable. So, that shut the door and any hope for finding Misty a new place. One fleeting idea was to fly her to the Pacific NW to be with family or a friend--something I held lightly in my heart--and it's a good thing.

Misty is very sensitive and poetic...creative...which is what a lovely young woman named, Trinidad F., must have seen in her for the past week, taking care of her. Trinidad is staff at Lewis Animal Hospital.

When I went to Lewis with Jacuzzi for her shots, this morning, Trinidad was up by the counter. She spoke so softly that I had to keep asking, "I'm sorry...could you say that again?" Or, "Just one more time, please." She said, "I want to take Misty." I was so stunned, I couldn't speak for a moment (unusual for me). I smiled to the clouds, then hugged her.

While Jacuzzi was being vaccinated, Trinidad and I went back into the cages once, and I saw that Misty was OK...then, after the final checkout and after I signed a form saying that Misty would belong to Trinidad from this day forward, the two of us back into the boarding area again. I photographed Trinidad holding Misty.Then, Trinidad photographed me holding my sweet Misty for the last time...

Moving forward. My thanks to all the people who sent me thoughts, best wishes, inquiries...and to those who did not respond to me in my semi-crazed and seeking state. It all worked, like the universe seems to work when you just give IT room--at least in this instance. If I had gone to Rehoboth, this would not have happened. If I had taken Misty to Howard County Animal Control, it would surely not have happened. It was all crazy and totally perfect! And I am grateful beyond words.