What We Bring

Mark and I each brought many things into our marriage, almost twenty-five years ago.  It's like that, you know.  Each person brings with them their own set of personality characteristics, various amounts of baggage, and enough quirks to last a lifetime.  There is then a period of sorting, accepting and knowing which of those things are negotiable, compromiseable, and absolute must-haves.  For my dear husband, the absolute must-haves included various components of testosterone-driven sporting equipment including, but not limited to, hockey skates, hockey sticks, running shoes, weight-lifting paraphernalia, and fairly recently, mountain-biking equipment.  This man, my man, has always been what is known as, a jock.  I, coming out of a very non-athletic family, did not always understand my husbands absolute need for all of this physical activity.  Being under five feet tall was not conducive to being chosen for teams in gym class(a barbaric practice, if you ask me), and so I learned to dislike physical activities that had anything to do with a ball, a score, and profuse amounts of sweat.

So, what did I bring into our marriage that was non-negotiable?  My absolute need to rescue and be surrounded by anything furry, feathery or that has two pleading, soulful eyes.  In other words, anything that breathes and needs a home.  In college, my sweet husband understood this when he became my accomplice in rescuing my three childhood cats that had all but been abandoned by my mother when she began spending nights at her then boyfriend's apartment.  I knew that I had to get them out of that situation and Mark, being my dear Knight in shining armor, understood that I would be bringing them into our marriage.  Along with the cat that we adopted and the dog that we found wandering the streets of Syracuse, New York, where we both attended college.  

As the years went by, and we began our family, the two things which remained constant were Mark's love of anything athletic, and my love for anything breathing.  Yes, there have been times when each one of us has balked at the idea of the other one's absolutes, but for the most part, we have reached a level of understanding.  I understand how much participating in sports means to my sweet husband, and he understands what surrounding myself with animals(and children) means to me.  And in the process, each one of our hearts has stretched to include the things that are important and necessary for the other.  Marriage, when done properly, is like that.
Our four Angels carry an interesting, genetic blend of their dad's need to be active, and my need to nurture.  I love seeing those qualities melded together to create some wonderful, little people.
And so, Rex(the little white and black kitty) recently entered our family via Angel Daughter Number Two.  She found him shivering and alone in the grass by her apartment building.  When she called me to ask if she could keep him and I balked a tiny bit, she reminded me that it was my fault that she felt the need to rescue animals.
Micah, our Rottweiler, Pit-Bull, Doberman-Pincer, drug-lord's dream puppy, took an immediate liking to Rex.  It quickly became love.
They were our latest adoptees until I received a phone call from Angel Daughter Number One, last week, telling me about the Feral momma kitty who had just given birth to six kittens in her backyard.  It took her a couple of weeks to catch all seven kittens and their momma, but when she did, she fell into deep love with the mother.  She was able to find a home for two of the babies and then a foster home for the four others.
Momma(that is the name that AD1 gave her) is a sweet girl who is now recovering from her ordeal.  When AD1 found her, she was basically emaciated but she still somehow summoned up the energy to nurse her babies.  She also carried them back and forth to safety anytime she felt threatened.  There are quite a few human mothers who could learn some lessons about mothering and dedication from this momma kitty.
So on this day that is dedicated to fathers, think about adopting an animal.  If you have any room in your home and in your heart, rescue, rescue, rescue.

Please...Your heart will stretch in ways that you cannot even imagine.