Follow your heart

If you’re lucky, you find people who change (for the better) the way you view yourself, others and the world. Besides family, I have found three such people, two of whom are in a tremendous amount of emotional pain right now.

A few of you left comments regarding the strength of connections they feel to people they've met only through the internet and I couldn't agree more. Jock could be a modern-day St. Francis of Assisi, protector of animals (okay, the sainthood might be pushing it a bit unless whiskey is allowed these days, but still...). Last week, he was caring for twenty-one cats, and would rather skip meals himself than see one go hungry. I can't express how much I admire his devotion and dedication. He has buried four kittens in one week and the trend doesn't seem to be stopping. I don’t know if there is something a vet can do or a medication that will help, but I can’t live with myself if I sit idly by and do nothing as they continue to die from this "one day they're fine, the next day they're being buried" illness.

I was actually moved to tears when a group of strangers on the internet helped pay the surgery bill of a kitten that had been run over - there is so much good in the world sometimes, it amazes and astounds me. Though he would never in a million years ask for help, I will. The cat photo to the right will take you directly to Paypal to donate if you’d like to help.

For my disappearing act: I booked a ticket to Milwaukee, leaving this morning from Tallahassee (figuring I’d bypass the whole “speeding ticket/missed flight/get a hotel room” process I endure when I fly out of Atlanta). I may be able to do nothing more than cry with my friend as she mourns the loss of her father, but offering my shoulder from nine-hundred miles away and sending flowers hardly felt supportive enough.