Psychic Advice

A week and a half week ago, a family moved out of my in the middle of the redwoods neighborhood.  This is the same family I adopted my blind kitten from.  Apparently, I definitely saved her life.  I must admit, the neighborhood is a lot quieter without them.  They used to shout at each other a lot and their two dogs barked constantly.  However, they abandoned seventeen un-neutered cats ranging in age from 3 days to 3 years of age.  The perfect foundation for a feral cat colony.  By this time next year we’d have a couple of hundred feral cats in the neighborhood.  The impact on all the beautiful birds we have would be incredible.  The cats themselves would have short miserable lives.   I have already taken the momma cat and her week-old litter to the local shelter and she was placed in a foster home.  These cats are all scared and hungry.  I’ve found a home for one of the 12 cats and kittens that are left.  I’m gaining the trust of some of them enough not to have to traumatize them by trapping them.  This process is heart breaking.  My neighbors and I are doing everything we can to take care of this in a humane way.  Nobody chases the cats away and everyone is letting me set traps on their property.  I’m blessed to live in a real community of mostly kind people.  What breaks our hearts is that this couple has two children, nice ones.  Each child had chosen a kitten they made their special pets, these cats were abandoned along with the others.  The young boy told a neighbor’s child his mom had said they were not taking any of the cats and either they went to the pound or got left behind.  I cannot understand how anyone can do this to a child.  I don’t really know their little girl, but I know the boy a little.  He is a sweet good-hearted child.  He came to my house wanting to know how the blind kitten was doing, I let him see her.  I’m hoping to find the children’s cats and get them good homes myself.  Then, I can tell the neighbor girl to let them know their pets are safe and happy.  I pray this little boy and his sister are able to survive their up-bringing without losing the kindness I have seen in them. 

I was born in France, with the exception of my mother and one cousin, my entire family still lives there.  Wednesday the 2nd of August my mom and I spent the day with my aunt whom I hadn’t seen in twenty years.  She and her husband made a two night stop in San Francisco on their way to see their daughter (my cousin) in Colorado.  They did this so, as my aunt put it, she could hug my mom one more time before either one of them dies.  They are the two surviving siblings of four.  Although I have no one to pass it on to, I love knowing the history of my family and hearing the stories of my mom’s childhood.  Most of all, I love knowing as much about my grandmother as I can learn.  I have great admiration and respect for my grandmother.  Granny, as all her grandchildren called her, was an incredible woman.  She was born in 1891.  She came from a prominent country family and was brought up as a “lady”.  She had never cooked until she married nor done any manual work other than needlepoint.  She embroidered beautifully.  My grandfather thought he was a business man and lost all her money in his bad investments.  He then left her for eleven years.  She became a single mother with four children in 1930.  Her only income was from a farm she still owned and half a farm given her by her husband.  Throughout her life, maids had done the house work and gardeners had maintained the grounds.  She could not divorce and lived in a fish bowl.  Her father in law lived next door and reported every move she made to her husband.  Back in those days, my grandfather could go live with a mistress, but my grandmother had to stay the faithful wife.  She raised chickens, geese and rabbits for food and planted vegetables.  She managed to provide the basics for her four children.  I am sure somewhere near her house the hobo symbol for “a good woman lives here” was etched or drawn, as no hungry person was turned away without being given something nourishing on a thick slice of bread.   When the Nazis occupied France, it was mandatory she provide housing for at least one officer.  Her father in law had died by that time and his house (which was next door) was lived in by a group of officers.  I cannot even imagine her fear as she had three teen age daughters and had to send her son into hiding so he would not be placed into forced labor in Germany.  She did speak fluent german which I’m sure was a help.  During the occupation, she added chopping wood to her list of manual skills.  She was a beautiful and strong woman who could intimidate with her super straight posture and strong voice.  She was always a lady who never went out without her hat and gloves (a must in those days).  My strongest memory of her was when she would manage to do her sewing with me in her lap.  She talked with me as she sewed and I threaded her needles for her.  When a needle fell to the floor, I would find it and pick it up.  Next to my mother’s lap, it was the safest and warmest place in the world.  She held no bitterness that I ever heard about.  She even took my grandfather back when he decided to return to his family.  I must admit he payed for those eleven years away.  My grandmother had several strokes in her later years and it was he that took care of her until the day she died.  I give him credit for not letting her be taken to a hospital and she died in her own home surrounded by her children and many of her grandchildren.  The women of my mother’s side of the family are all strong in their own ways.  My mom, her mother, and her two sisters all also had the “gift” as do two of my female cousins.  Listening to my mom and her sister reminice (probably for the last time) was an unexpected special gift I’ll always cherish. 

Thank you Micky for sharing your powerful story.  It got me reflecting on God in my own life and although I don’t know that I would say that God is my inner child, it is Him that enables me to have a happy one.  Although finding my path and where I belong has been a long difficult and painful process, I feel blessed to have gotten there.  I may not see God in the exact terms you do, but I do have a strong belief in Him.  It is through my faith and spiritual studies I overcame the tremendous anger I carried in my early years as well as the accumulated pain I couldn’t express.  I probably enjoy the fireworks even more than I did  as a child.  Even God cannot reach those who aren’t listening and don’t want to change.  I truly admire you for the changes you made in your life.