Riddle me this, Tabby’s Place fam.
What is summer, for people with hearts like ours?
Summer is not the frothy clouds of a day at the pool. We love too much to stay away from the ocean. Our cheeks are streaky with saltwater. We dance barefoot on the shoreline of laughter and grief.
Summer is not a grouchy rant about humidity. We are always sticky anyway. Some days are a carefree coconut cream pie, chasing Prescott down the hall like a kite. Some days storm like heaven’s own tears, as a a kitten slips through our fingers. Some days are the days we were born for, like when fifteen cats land here safely from Beirut.
Most days, we step in unexpected substances, like mercy. We are all-weather lovers.
Summer is definitely not a veggie burger, because the cats are unanimous that beans masquerading as meat are an abomination. Do not get Gator started on the war crime known as “tofu pups.”
No, summer at the sanctuary is one true thing.
It is a kitten the color of a popsicle, clinging to a branch in a flash flood.
Wild-haired and overwhelmed, it is always in over its head. It holds tight to the only sturdy thing in sight, trusting that root will hold. It is braver than it has a right to be. Its miracle comes just in time. Every time.
And if fear should shake the branch, love will hiss like a five-week-old kitten.
If you have never heard a five-week-old kitten hiss, you have never witnessed true courage. Though he resembles a fuzzified peanut butter bar, a guy like Gritito gives it his all. He was plucked from the branch but not from the bravery. He is safe now, but eager to remind us that he is still wild.
And he reminds us that hearts like ours are wild, too.
So, take it from the kitten whose name means both “tiny scream” and “miniature Gritty.” (We also suspect those two entities were his parents. As best we can tell, Gritty has never been neutered.) Summer at the sanctuary is not easy. It is far better. It is fully alive. It is deeper than the sea and more coconutty than a pina colada. It hangs on for dear life.
Let’s hang onto July’s memories:
Arrived: Boop, Maizey, Kernel, Husker, Tassel, Piper, Obi, Gritito, Li’l Papa, Lilac, Melo, Kip, Scott, Harris, Troy, Palmer, Nivea, Wisteria, Yuggi, Rhombus, Trapezoid, Dodecagon, Oval, Quadrilateral, Chingle, Nacho, Bowie, Tarzan, Apollo, Kai, Pax, Lina, Phoenix, Griffin, Noir, Daisy, Antar, Jimmy, Sable, Xena
Adopted: Violet, Oak, Sycamore, Birch, Nux, Maxwell, Gladys, Whittaker, Charlotte, Aranea, Jeff, Emil, Elm, Jimmy (non-Lebanon Jimmy), Furiosa, DW, Harrison, Bonk, Barkey, Sophie, Mama Kitty, Penny, Winona, Tiffany, Blaire, Basil, Annabeth, Yuggi, Smudge
Returned: Sandra & Gary (together), Beau, Mayhem, Sadie
Forever Foster Fabulosity: Chingle (with angel Tiana)
Promoted to the Lobby: Starfish, Li’l Papa, Martini
Promoted to the Community Room: Lemming, Musha
Promoted to Heaven: Carson, Cupcake, Bruno, Amigo
Stuff We Learned: There is no distance too great for love. We are all here, together, and that’s what matters.
August, we embrace you already. You have cats we have never seen before, and we will love them more than sailors love the sea, more than Gator loves cheeseburgers, more than Baby loves impersonating a beach ball.
If we get scared, which we might, we will let Gritito defend us. Just wait until you hear his hiss.
And just one more thing. Dahlia said the Linda Fund is coming, and this could be love’s season.
That part has everything to do with you. Stay tuned…