MAMA MILLIE #9

Let's go back 19 years ago. My first husband was deceased and Mama Millie continued to live with me in my home. My niece, Emilie, called me to ask if I wanted a cat. She had found a cat and she couldn't keep it, and it needed a home. Now, let's say I haven't had any experience with cats,but agreed to give it a home. I'm a sucker and now we had a cat. We named it Fluffy as this cat had alot of beautiful thick grey hair. We noticed that this cat ate alot and since we had to take it to the vet, we would enquire about this and taking care of a cat. The vet gave us the good news(drum roll) Fluffy was female and pregnant with possible 5 kittens. I don't believe that Fluffy had consented to having sex, she was raped. No matter, we were going to be "grandparents". The time came for the birth of the "grandchildren". Fluffy gave us the "high sign", and we were ready in the "operating room", which was the bathroom. How was Mama Millie and myself to know that cats don't lay down in delivery. My sister was our consultant. At delivery, we had 5 babies, 2 were grey, 1 totally white with a mass of hair, 1 black with a mass of hair, 1 calico.After the babies were born Mama Millie, got emotional and wanted to keep one cat, the calico, and then we would try to find homes for the other 4 babies. Mama Millie and I named her cat Humpty Dumpty as she was the last kitten to be delivered. When it was time that the kittens could be separated from their mother, we placed an ad in the newspaper for free kittens. Now my mother cries for any reason, she did this when we placed the ad. It amazed us the response we received from the ad. The first night from the ad, we had visitors coming to our house about the kittens. The weird thing, it was raining and we had thunder storms. There must be a large number of cat lovers in the world. We had two families who each adopted a grey kitten for their families. Mama Millie, started with the tears. She was worried that these people wouldn't take care of the kittens. Later that evening, while we were still having heavy rain, the doorbell rang and a father and his daughter looked at the remaining kittens and decided to adopt the white kitten, that meant we had one more kitten left,the black kitten, remember we are keeping the calico. As this man was getting to leave,I did a "salesman pitch",and asked this man to also consider the black kitten, My words, ," Don't you want this kitten as well, this kitten it's a match with the white kitten". They left only with the white kitten. Mama Millie once again cried. Shortly, after that time, the doorbell rang again, low and behold the man and his daughter said "we will take this other kitten, it matches with the one we already have". I, couldn't believe that my sales pitch worked. Again Mama Millie cried. We kept the calico because Mama Millie got attached , we named her "Humpty Dumpty ". Days after the 4 babies were gone, I got a telephone call. The man who took the 2 kittens (I was afraid he was calling to say He couldn't keep them)His question was," what was the date that the kittens were born," his daughter wanted to have a birthday party for the kittens. Mama Millie cried again because this was so touching and we got a good feel that they would be in a good home. As the years went by, our mama cat "Fluffy", had a tumor. Two weeks after surgery she died. Both Mama Millie and myself cried. Humpty was Mother's cat that she loved, spoiled and was constantly holding. When, Mama Millie, got sick, she made me promise to take care of Humpty. On the day that my Mother died, Humpty wouldn't get off mother's hospital bed that was at my home. Mother died with Humpty, laying alongside her. When we buried my Mother, we placed a photo of Humpty in the casket. The years went by, Humpty was 18 years old, but she looked like a younger cat. Within the last 6 months,of this year Humpty got sick. The vet advised us to put her to sleep. She is buried in an area near our barn. As I am writing this post, tears are coming down my cheeks. When Humpty died, this opened up the grief that I had when Mother died. Humpty was 18 years old when she died, I had known that cat longer than my husband in my current marriage. I know, I will always have this memory.We have grief for animals,as they became a member of our family. Humpty outlived Mother by 3 years. This cat was my last physical connection with my Mother. Mama Millie and Humpty, are blessings that I have and their death's can't take that away, unless I eliminate them from my mind and heart. When we lose someone or something , we can lose the value of that blessing, if we "put it in a closet", in order to run away from sadness. I choose not to "put this memory in the closet" as this is a blessing,not to be given up by myself. So, let the tears cry for sadness, but let the tears cry for happiness . HElP I tried to delete the photo that is sideways, couldn't do this. I didn't want to continue this,so it's on my post.Still learning this blog process. Rose,Blogger in training.