My Take
DiVoran Lites
Sunday a week ago we decided to take a drive to Melbourne and look at the cats at the Sheriff’s Animal Shelter. Our informant had told us we might get a free cat because we were seniors. That sounded better than the $85 dollars for rescue cats online. As it happened all the animals at the Sheriff’s were free for the month of August…a back-to-school special.
We were ready to pay it, if asked, because we knew they had done everything to make the cats and owners happy and healthy. We got Jasmine sixteen years ago and had to pay for her and all her requirements ourselves. We paid for a visit to the vet plus her spaying, rabies and other shots, and a microchip so shecould be found if she got lost. That bill was certainly more than $85.00!
Nowadays rescue vets do it all plus testing for cat diseases, a medical exam, and a free well-visit to the vet within thirty days of adoption.
We had a good drive down south and had, in fact, discussed making a four hour round trip to Ft. Lauderdale because they seemed to have so many choices at “Abandoned Pets,” down there.
We still thought we might be looking for kittens and had been told they had many at the Sheriff’s Animal Shelter, but when we arrived only four played in the kitten room. A little girl, about three years old played with the kitty toys while her mother sat on the floor watching. It seemed a happy Sunday afternoon pastime together.
I plucked a dark gray-striped kitten from a tunnel where it was bathing itself. The small one didn’t want to come to me but I picked her up anyway. Suddenly, I realized that part of the reason she had been hiding in the tunnel was because she had probably been handled since the shelter opened that day. I put her back, but immediately one of the associates came saying, “oh there she is, her family is waiting for her.”
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We inquired at the desk and the Sheriff’s Department attendant said, “We do have plenty of kittens but they’re all being fostered right now.” She gave me two cards for foster go-betweens and told me I could call them and tell them what I was looking for and they would tell us when kittens and their mothers if they had them, were brought to the shelter.
We came home empty-handed and I got back online.
A few days later we decided we needed the right cat for our lives and that kittens wouldn’t be a good idea because of the constant care required. I emailed a local rescue person and eventually talked on the phone with her. We were going to make an appointment, but the only time in the next week or so when she could see us was at 6:30 that very evening. She lived about half an hour away from us. We studied the cats on the site and thought there were five possibilities.
I felt empathy for this cat lady. Every weekday she drove into Orlando an hour away where she had a full-time job. Around five she returned to Brevard County and met potential owners at her place or at Petco. After that,she was off home to clean kennels and feed her charges. She would get to bed around eleven and get up early the next day to start all over again.
She explained the details about the cats we had picked out. It seemed that each had a major fault. Now those faults may have been truly prohibitive for us, but I kind of thought she might, like any pet-lover, have a hard time letting go of her changes.
“I should tell you about the Siamese I’m going to be working with,” she said. A man had nineteen of them in a 600 square foot apartment that were inner breeding. We’ve got to get them all tested and taken care of. I don’t know how long you can wait, and I don’t know how you feel about Siamese. I don’t have them right now, but I have the others and you can visit them, I hope you won’t mind that I haven’t had time to clean the kennels.”
Photo credit Unsplash
I’d known a few Siamese and realized that many people valued them for their beauty and their general personality. But we said no to that situation. Inthe end, I told her that we wouldn’t be coming after all. She started to persuade, but I felt that she didn’t want to part with any of them. I understood. After the call, I prayed silently for the Lord to draw her and help her know how to live a more peaceful life. Of course, I didn’t have any answers, I just knew I couldn’t live under that kind of stress.
Despite praying for a black and white, or tuxedo cat; I’m dropping my initial requirement. I’m sure Abba will give us the exact one He wants us to have, and if it is none, we will intuitively know and let go of the whole scheme. We thank him for His ever-present grace whether our problems are large or small.
DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn. She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”
Old Things R New 
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