My cats are teaching me lessons again. When we moved to this home, we knew it was going to be somewhat temporary, since we had plans to build our forever home in the next five years. We didn’t know that we were going to inherit a feral colony of cats and grow to love them, which seriously complicates our leaving here. 

 

A cute blonde pregnant bobtail greeted us on day one. She was friendly and hungry. We had three cats of our own and certainly didn’t need another, but she was persistent. From the back deck, she hopped up onto our kitchen window sill from the outside to peer inside and cry. I caved in and fed her. The next day she came back with a friend who was also very skinny and pregnant.

 

Pretty soon, about five more adults showed up, rail thin, plus three lightning-fast kittens who were about four months old. The first two cats were friendly but the rest were feral and very skittish. They were hungry but would only come eat if I would stand far away from them.

 

My brother died the month before we moved here and I’m certain he sent me these furry angels to help get me out of the house each day. Though I was paralyzed with grief for several months, I would go outside and try to befriend all these cats. I was curious if I could do it and it gave me hours of amusement and distraction from my real world pain.

 

I tied red pipe cleaners on long branches and dragged them through the grass, taunting the cats hiding in the tree line separating our backyard from the woods. The more brave kitties would chase it. We tied a long red ribbon to a broken golf club and cast it repeatedly into the woods, sometimes “catching” one of them. I was cat fishing and they loved to play. Gradually they warmed to me, my husband and son and we were able to catch and neuter/spay nine of them. 

 

Within the next six months or so, we will be moving. It’s not a great idea to move an outdoor colony from the territory they know, yet our fur babies have become accustomed to food and love. Leaving them here to fend for themselves is not an option. Rather than attempt to move the cats, my goal is to find all of them furever homes.

 

Two of the kittens are grown and still with us. They are cousins. One is a ginger Maine coon mix named Scotch who has grown exceptionally loving with us. He loves his tail squeezed and his belly rubbed. Our sleek black kitty, LJ, is the most feral of them all. He is submissive yet he doesn’t trust human touch. I can trick him into capture when I need to address a medical need or to change his flea collar but it isn’t without major resistance.

 

Once LJ has been inside for a few days, he is a love bug and a purr baby, eager to receive my petting. The minute I put him back out, he won’t let me near him. I’ve often thought if I could bring him in for a longer period of time, I might be able to establish a more permanent bond with him, thus helping him overcome his fear of all humans, increasing his chances for adoption.

 

Last night I invited the outside cats into our home for an experiment. LJ and Scotch came in to explore and I was able to get them into an unused, upstairs bathroom. I am toying with the idea of temporarily integrating Scotch and LJ into our home to assess their chances of a successful adoption together. This brings me to the lesson of the day.

 

Scotch and LJ were handling their capture in different ways. Scotch was continually looking for an escape route until he exhausted himself and had to take a nap. LJ has been trapped recently for medical issues so he adjusted much more quickly to being caught again. He resigned to chill out, sleep and accept what’s happening until something different happens. What a great strategy for life!

 

Too often I act like Scotch when I really want to be more like LJ. As the caregiver in this situation, I know that what I’m doing for them is for their ultimate good even though it doesn’t seem like it to them right now. If this works, it could lead to a much better life than they could even imagine. LJ and Scotch think the life they have right now is pretty good. We don't know what we're missing if we don't know what we're missing. Jim Collins said, "Good is the enemy of great." We have to be willing to get uncomfortable.

 

How often do I look for ways to escape impending change? How often do I assume that change is bad because it doesn’t look or feel good momentarily? How much better would it be if I could surrender and trust that everything is working out for my good, even in the moments where it feels less than ideal?

 

LJ may be surrendering in a state of resignation. I want to go a step further. I want to surrender in hope, in trust, in a solid belief that my current struggle is leading me to my future joy.

 

Are you going through something you didn’t ask for, that you would like to escape? Join me today in accepting that where we are is necessary for the evolution of an awesome tomorrow, something far better than anything we could imagine or force into being. Let’s chill out, take a nap and see what happens next.