I usually get to this weekly exercise bright and early, but this weekend has been a distraction. We decided to extract kittens from our crawl space. I was worried for them being out in the elements. Worried for the mama cat too, who we plan to humanely capture and get spayed so there will be no more kittens for her to deal with. Finally, we hoped to find homes for all this little refugee family. We prepared a small room we are not using to house them (so as not to mix them in with my resident brood of cats and dogs). Plans are set to take them for medical exams, worming, vaccinations and the like. Needless to say, none of this was planned, and dealing with a litter of kittens is certainly not how I would have chosen to spend this weekend. But that is where we found ourselves. Life throws us curveballs all the time.

When we got under the porch we realized we had quite a challenge. The previous owners of this house had dumped the former porch planks underneath the existing one and we discovered a series of tunnels, dug, we suspect, by a ground hog or some other sizable burrowing critter. Thanks to the help of our neighbors we were able to save three kittens from the dangerous maze under our house and get them safely inside. The mother cat of course darted straight away in all the commotion and one kitten eluded us. It is bittersweet. My heart breaks that we couldn’t save them all in one grand effort. We will continue to feed mama cat every morning and night. She wanders several houses down after filling her belly. We suspect she has the fourth kitty stowed away somewhere else. At least we hope so, and we hope also that she sees fit to bring it back with her at a future date. There is nothing we would like more than to reunite this little family, care for them and find them loving forever homes.

All this had me thinking about what is happening at our southern border…children being separated from their parents, kept in cages (though this is not the condition my visiting kittens find themselves in). It’s is an oddly similar situation, though there are some differences. We fully plan for this family to have wonderful lives, all of them…mama too. We hope that these little souls will find that we are good humans. It is sad to think that there needs to be a distinction made. Between good and bad humans, the latter having no compassion for life in all its beautiful forms. It breaks my heart to know that there are young children who have no hope for a normal future because those in power are unwilling to address the problem of immigration and how we deal with refugees. And it breaks my heart to know that there are people who think the families at the border deserve the cruel treatment they are enduring for having come here hoping for more.

I suppose we could have ignored the family of kittens who came to live under our porch. They certainly didn’t ask us if they could crash in our crawlspace. And we don’t really owe them anything. We could just let nature take its course. I’m sure there are some people who would tell me as much. They are not our responsibility after all. But this evening, as write this, I am taking a deep breath. We saved three…homes waiting for them when they are ready (health checked, and a wee bit older). I may not have the power to save every kitten, or every human who finds itself in need of rescuing. But I have this moment, this unexpected weekend, to do a tiny part in showing care and compassion. I don’t expect thanks or special recognition for this. Knowing that I made things better for three and hopefully five (mama and the stray kitten) will be enough. And having this opportunity to tap into the well of compassion is a blessing, unexpected as it may be. The most any of us can hope for is to leave this place a little better than we found it. I’m trying my best…I really am.

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 16 June 2019

work life balance is having it all
if only she knew
just being was enough
don’t lose your head over it
burning the candle at both ends
a mourning dove coos from the cable line
commands a personal sense of right,
never to return, she waits by the phone
angry waves swirl and swell

~kat

A ReVerse poem is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week.