Sisters become surrogate moms – unexpectedly!!

The phone rang – it was my sister. “Can you come over? we found kittens …” I rushed to her home, all the way thinking about the humid 95+ degree heat we had been enduring, sending positive thoughts that the kittens would be okay. Well, other than being very hungry and missing their mom they were healthy babies about two weeks old. They had been trapped outside behind an icemaker and were howling through the ventilation grate for their mom (everyone looked for several days, but the wooded area near the river is full of dangers for small animals – eagles, osprey, hawks, fox. I saw several cats at the time that had been hit by cars.)After several calls to local shelters (no one would take babies too young to feed themselves and eliminate by themselves, unless it was to put them down) my sister and I settled in to raise the babies. Four in total meant four bottles of cat replacement milk and four hungry mouths. It was so beautiful to sit there together feeding the kittens,talking about the situation (and trying to figure everything out!). She would ask WHY? and I would say to the kittens THANKS FOR GIVING ME/US THE CHANCE TO CARE FOR YOU. When several people told her to take the cats to the shelter anyway and tell the kids they went to good homes she couldn’t believe it. HOW COULD SOMEONE POSSIBLY THINK THIS IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO? THEY NEED US FOR EVERYTHING, I CAN’T DO THAT. I told her I figured those types of people concentrated on self and ego and if an unexpected opportunity arose they couldn’t allow themselves the flexibility to be of service. Her compassion in the way she responded to the situation was beautiful! After the first few days, everyone settled into a routine of caregiving and excitedly observing “kitty milestones.” I don’t know if this has inspired anyone else, yet I feel that simply the act of observation goes a long way, as does being surrounded by healing, caring energy. Maybe this helped/healed somebody in another way that we’ll never know about. I just feel so grateful to have been able to serve in this way – I feel small, just one person, you know? But it really IS TRUE that you can make a difference. We hear it all the time, and “understand” it intellectually, but in truth, in my heart, I never believed it applied to me (not that I would have ever TOLD anyone that :). Given the situation they were in, nothing could have made a bigger difference to those kitties.