While She’s Still Here

My Lydia is sick again. We’ve been in this see saw place most of her life. She was a wee very sick kitten when I rescued her from the streets. Since that day 6 years ago, her life has been tenuous.

I have tried everything on and off label I can find to try and help her. Her repeated upper respiratory infections have become the norm for her as is the case for some of my rescues who start out that way. Each time I think her life will be over. Each time she fights her way back.

She is still a wee girl, greeting me every morning with a purr bigger than she is as she wraps her furry body around my feet and ankles--her big eyes pleading for more love. More love.

I have spent around the clock hours caring for her — looking into those never blinking eyes full of love just for me. I am her mom, her eyes tell me so. She waits. She stays here for me. I know this.

Those too many times we are all alone in the middle of the night have made our bond unbreakable. She is here until she is no longer. Here with me.

While she’s here I will give her all the love I have to give, knowing it will never be enough. For either of us.

How does 6 pounds of fur and purr leave such a mark on one’s life? I do not know. I cannot explain it.

Maybe because, against all odds, she stays. In spite of all she deals with, she stays.

And I will stay with her, be her mom, love her with abandonment. Be glad she is only mine. Embrace the hard times and love her right through them.

While she’s still here.

Jackie Deems Copyright 2020