Love and loss...

Warning: LOOOOONG post---

life lesson first-art work at the end...

 

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I've been away from my blog for awhile now.

I've had my hands full with this girl...



 

and I need to share her story with you today.

When she and I first met

she was in a cage in our vet's office.

She had been abandoned at Paws Place

a local dog rescue

and brought to our vet`s office.

She was very friendly-rubbing and butting and meowing

at me through the bars.

I was drawn to her mainly because well,

she was a SHE

and I am a SHE surrounded by males

(we had 3 inside male cats at home not to mention our

outside male feral

and I didn't think we could take on another).

I saw her off and on for about a month.

Friendly as she seemed, she also had some sort of damage

to her left eye--it was cloudy but it clearly didn't stop her

from getting around.

I think that was part of the reason she wasn`t

quickly adopted.

One day I caved

and she came home with me.

We put her in a room by herself for starters.

We wanted to give her time to adjust.

But we got a surprise.

She was terrified of us.

She would not let me near her for a very, very long time.

When she finally did, she would often reach a point of panic

and strike out with claws bared with no warning whatsoever.

She was terrified of us-and of the boy cats.

She would run and hide.

I kept telling her all she had to do

was puff and hiss.

We put up a screen door so she could see all of us

and vice versa.

We knew she (like me....) had been abused.

Eventually,

she came to trust me.

And a good bit later, my husband as well.

The panic ceased.

She would sit with me and love and cuddle.

She would play and chatter at the birds.

I could bring her out next to me

and she would tolerate the boys.

She and Inky were friends

as long as there was a door --- or Momma--between them.

One day about a month ago

a mysterious lump showed up on her head.

I opted to watch it hoping it was simply a cyst that would reabsorb itself.

A week later, overnight, it doubled in size.

Surgery happened quickly.

The pathology report....not so fast.

And, when it did, sadly, it was not good news.

A rare form of cancer - T-cell lymphoma.

Little known about this disease.

While we were waiting,

despite our vet's  best efforts,

our girl declined rapidly.

And Wednesday of this week I had to make

an extremely difficult decision.

I could not let her suffer any longer

and we chose to say good-bye to our sweet girl.

Now, why do I share such a heart-breaking story?

Well,

in her last weeks,

she overcame the last of her fears.

She wanted to come out of her room....

she toured the entire house!

And she finally realized that

if she puffed and hissed

the boys would back off

and leave her alone!

She overcame.

She learned from us

that it was ok to love, to trust,

and to overcome her fears.

She won.

 

And, as Paul Harvey would say---

the rest of the story...

one person involved in dealing with her pathology report

shared that his one-year old daughter

has an inoperable brain tumor.

Just like our girl, Miss Dolly.

Coincidence?

Not on your life!

God-incidence?

You'd better believe it!

I do.

That little girl

will have a purrfect friend

waiting on her.

Thank you, Ms. Dolly

for the lessons you taught me

for the love you gave me.

You won't be forgotten!

You are truly AN OVERCOMER

 

 

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And, speaking of Overcoming...

here are some Easter projects I was working on last week-end

 

Until next time, as a fellow blogger used to say--

HUG THE ONES YOU LOVE

 happy stamping and scrapping.

Blessings,