So… I lost my writing partner last year. Rudie, a beautiful Doxie Cross, was with me eleven beautiful years.
She had a heart of gold. A really big heart, too. Apparently. When I discovered she had congestive heart failure, my mind couldn’t wrap around that terrible diagnosis.
“Her heart is huge,” said the vet. Boom.
“There’s not a lot we can do at this stage.” Sonic boom.
“All we can do is make her comfortable.”
Just a few days later, I realized Rudie had progressed from uncomfortable to miserable. Her pills had stopped helping her. She couldn’t breathe. When she stood, she couldn’t walk. Then she stopped eating.
So, early on a Saturday morning, after a particularly difficult night, Rudie and I took our last drive together to visit the vet. By then she was unresponsive. I held her in my arms when she took her last breath.
She was a good dog.
My life felt empty. My best friend left me. I felt despondent. Two weeks passed.
That Saturday, as my DH and I made our trek to the big city to purchase groceries, I noticed he varied our route. Before too long, I found ourselves parked at the local Humane Society lot.
“I don’t want a dog.” (I was still a little cranky at that point.)
“We don’t need to adopt anyone today. We’re just looking.”
Yeah. Right.
We marched inside. No medium to small dogs. None.
I was just about to leave and the woman said, “We may not have any dogs for you today, but we have this unusual cat…”
She disappeared a moment and returned with a tiny, blaze white puff of fur.
“I don’t like cats,” I said. I held out my hand anyway.
She fit in my palm. When she opened her eyes, they looked sky blue. Then she purred. Nah, not really a purr. More of a rumble.
“She’s a flame point Siamese,” the woman said, “Breeder brought her in because she’s slightly cross eyed.” She shrugged. “Imperfect, I suppose.”
That was it. In that instant, I fell so deep in love it wasn’t even funny.
That little kitty-girl is now named Lina, coined after the mythical flame haired sorceress who steals the hearts of men.
Because that imperfect little bugger stole my heart!
If you, like Lina and I, are imperfect, welcome to the club. It’s your imperfections that make you unique. Special. Adorable. 😛
I hope this year unfolds in an utterly grand (and imperfect) manner!
Talk later,
Beth, the former dog person who has apparently become a raving cat cheerleader 🙂
P.S. What are you imperfections and how do they make you better?
I’ll start: I have so many imperfections to choose from! But, I’ll start with cancer. One imperfect cell and BOOM. Tumor. But, cancer got me back to doing what I adore. That has to be good, eh? 😛
Feel free to share your by hitting reply or heading to the blog and leaving a comment. LINK
P.S. Reclaimed Haven: Murder on Second will release soon. Not ready yet, but thought I’d give it a mention.
In the mean time, here’s a link to a pretty cool freebie
