Life as it Is

Well here's the news from my neck of the prairie. It's been kind of a quiet week actually. There have been no further sightings of my date and I (at least that I have heard of) but then I have had no further conversations with my own particular source either! That does not necessarily mean that news about me is not moving around town, however. One of my clients came in yesterday and said, "Oh Kate, I am so sorry to hear that you and XDO have broken up." Ummm...errr.....yeah. Seeing as how I had no idea this person even knew there was a DO for me to break up with, I said something along the lines of, "mmmm....yrhglp...." as she went on to say, "Yeah, I heard it from K (the proprietor) at the coffee house on Main Street. I guess XDO is a good friend of K's." OK! Last time I knew, XDO could not have picked K out of line up if a gun were being held at close range....but that is neither here nor there, I guess. We move on, we make new friends, even close ones. It has been a few months after all. Fishbowl life. There is one less cat in my life. I don't really know how to feel about that. Sad. Relieved. Guilty. The whole cat saga is part of the mess of this. XDO is a rescuer. When we came back together after the year we were doing the commuter thing "we" had somehow acquired a frightful number of kitties, many of whom were "special needs" -- read "expensive and high maintenance". I was under the impression that they really belonged to the rescue organization that DO worked with in the Big City and we were simply providing foster care. They had all been living up in the City with DO, and I really hadn't been paying much attention, having my own life here to attend attend to. But a few months after XDO and cats moved here and they were ALL STILL HERE I began asking when we would be saying goodbye to them. Imagine my surprise (and perhaps a few other feelings) when I found out that we were not. They were ours. All of them in their special diet, bad habit and high cost glory. When we began talking of separating, the cats became a major issue. DO is off in an apartment and I have the house. This is necessary for all sorts of reasons, but complicates the cat issues immeasurably. One is the only number that is actually allowed in the apartment. Let's just say XDO's one cat has "guests" for permanent sleepovers. Even with that I was left with more cats than I ever wanted or needed. And cats that had habits that were not desirable for someone who is trying to reclaim her space in a neat and tidy fashion. One in particular was doing the "bad kitty potty" thingy. So my solution was for him to live on the sun porch. It's nice, airy, uncarpeted. He had all his basic needs met and I visited him daily. I was even willing to give him a companion if I' been able to catch his favorite friend, who's pretty feral, but that's a whole other story. But XDO thought I was subjecting him to cruel and unusual punishment and said I'd put him on death row. Yesterday when I came home from work, he was gone. I don't know where and I am reluctant to inquire. Ignorance is bliss. I'm hoping to a no-kill shelter somewhere. I think I know better. I think he went to kitty-heaven. I feel bad if this is so. I don't even kill bugs. I take them back outside. Life is very sacred to me. And this was a nice kitty. I just didn't want him peeing all over my carpets and my couch. But now that feels shallow and materialistic and wrong. He has two friends here that really really need homes. One is the feral girl. She won't let anyone near her. She'd be a great farm cat...'cept she was declawed. Oops. The other one is a nice little boy who has kitty Crohn's. You see, special needs. Their departure would leave me with my small family of my ancient Bridget who has probably less than a year to live and my own sweet boys whom you would have to wrestle away from me. Yes, even after all this, I still do love cats. As far as developments on the L front, we are getting very close to the July 1st deadline and no-one has stepped forward to house him, so it looks like I'm getting a house guest for a couple weeks. He has heard from the funding program for the "underfunded and hard to house" folks in our state and they have approved him for a reasonable amount of rent. He has also found an apartment with management that is willing to accept all his limitations. The next hurdle is for the inspectors from the funders to say that this apartment is acceptable to them. He also has gotten himself a job with this apartment manager fixing up apartments for rental so we really really want him to get to live there! Please pray on! It could be an interesting few weeks while we wait for all this to line up. I have never lived with a nineteen year old. All pointers accepted. Perhaps he can help me out here at home. Talk about animal rescue....I agreed to take in a dog and cat for a parishioner for two weeks while they are traveling. The dog has one eye and the cat is missing one leg, a tail and most of her intestinal tract. Needless to say both of them are a little high maintenance as well. But XDO always took them in for these folks, and when she called, well....I found myself just saying, "Oh sure, no problem" before I thought about it. Oh, dear. Is this is the priest's job description? One of my clients told me the other day that life around here was really boring. My first thought was, "Well my dear, you sure aren't living mine!" I'm not complaining. It's all good, really. I'm sorry about the kitty, it doesn't seem it had to go that way. I'm bemused about the gossip, I mean really, am I that interesting? I'm asking myself what was I thinking about the one-eyed dog and the half-cat! And I'm wondering how it will be to live with a nineteen year old boy, as that will be a new experience for me. But life does go on and it is not dull. Oh, and I saw the cute one again at Wal-mart. Hmmmm. So as always, God is good and grace abounds. I continue to be amazed and grateful for all that life brings. Today Soul Sister S and I will garden, and when we have done our quota of weeding and mulching, planting and the hauling of rock, it's geocaching we will go. I have a travelbug to move to a new cache! Play, you know, is very important.