I have six foster kittens right now. My kids want a pet and I don’t feel like I can take that on permanently, but they are both old enough to take responsibility for the chores associated with foster kittens, so that felt like a good compromise. I got these kittens for them.
I had no idea how important it would be for me.
Life feels heavy, it feels out of control. I look for the joy and I find it, but it’s work, and the nights have felt fragmented and fraught when I’m alone with my thoughts. I’m exhausted because one of my kids was up all night with a cough; as soon as I began to drift off, he’d start hacking again. That’s parenthood, you just do it.
And then I got my coffee and sat down with these kittens, and I realized, here it is. Here are these living, breathing, needing little beings, and I can just be here with them, being present, and do something real, something that has an influence, something that makes the world just a little better. There is not much that is in my control, but this is.
These aren’t beautiful photographs; we’re all cozied up here in my son’s bedroom. But I don’t think that matters right now. Real life is happening, all the time.
And for premium subscribers, the crazy cat lady, with all six at once, just to prove it: