It was bitterly cold. There was a giant, red, danger-triangle of warning drawn over the entire state. A thick crust of “snowcrete” blanketed fields and significant portions of parking lots. But, in Ringoes, NJ there was an oasis of warmth overflowing with heaping doses of love. It was Saturday, February 7, and love truly was in the air. Why? Because it was the day of the second ever Your Feline Valentine Sponsor-a-Cat Event at Tabby’s Place. Extremely low mercury and aggressive wind chills could only attempt to suppress the enthusiasm of current and would-be sponsors of our advanced needs cats.
Individuals and groups flowed into and through the beating heart of the ark that Jonathan built. All were welcomed enthusiastically and invited to follow the paw prints to have their pictures taken, to stop at the Hissing or Kissing Booth (Choices!), and to meet sponsorable cats, including the newly introduced Hannah. He was a super-secret pre-Valentine’s Day surprise, unveiled to reveal the tale of yet another wonderful, tailess cat for all to dote on.
Hannah’s introduction to visitors was a roaring success, yet, there was a whisper on the wind of another cat that caught the attention and imagination of many attendees. Thusly, the love was spread even more widely than planned and as broadly and deeply as the Tabby’s Place family tends to spread all things great and good.
The cause of the chatter was a very recent introduction to Suite A, which is the designated location for the most scared, most shy, and most undersocialized of Tabby’s Place cats. Words floating around were that a very large, very mostly white whale of a creature was crated in broad view of the suite’s hall window. This “whale” was, as a matter of fact, not Moby Dick. Better, it was Sam. Better than a Sam that pushes a putrid shade of eggs and breakfast meat on hapless children, our Sam is a 22lb cat with tabby patches on a very largely blank, white canvas. Sam is an attention-getting masterpiece.
While he didn’t exactly steal the show from sponsorable cats like Chester and Prescott, Sam’s unplanned reveal might have challenged Hannah’s for measurable size of impact. Even so, Hannah’s tailless bunny butt captured hearts as fully as Sam’s size captured attention. Over time, Sam’s unpredictable, questionable behavioral decisions might prove impactful too, hence the orange collar that he wears as a caution advisory. Nevertheless, in both cases, the love was palpable and more enormous than any building could possibly encompass.
The size of the love of the Tabby’s Place family is bigger than a universe of shimmering stars. While Willow wowed, Regina George endeared, Colonel Peabody filled hearts (and laps), and Berry was just so very sweetly Berry, our beloved family grew to include more: more people, more cats, and, of course, more than enough love to envelope all of Tabby’s Place in a cloak of kindness and joy.
Our sponsors are key to that joy. We treasure each and every one, just as we treasure all of our sponsorable cats, just as we treasure all of the cats that we already love and the very many more yet to come. Every donation helps realize the dream of always being there for our feline friends. Every sponsor helps secure the future for Tabby’s Place and for every cat whose hopeless situation is transformed into hopeful because Tabby’s Place is there when the need is greatest. The importance of sponsorship is immeasurable. There is just no bigger love than that.