Alexander is gone

Tia seems perpetually involved in charitable causes ever since I have known her. By extension now, I too am involved (albeit to a lesser degree). It is really a nice feeling, and sadly one I would not get to experience without her. I don't consider myself an uncaring or unkind person, but I seemingly lack the ability to turn the concept into anything tangible because I remain largely incapable of committing myself to the obligations necessary to be a good volunteer. Hence, I do things like help with Meals on Wheels during the holidays, took part in painting the cat shelter, helped clean the children's museum, and adopted a family during last year's holidays. The warm fuzzies without the commitment.

The only commitment I have been able to muster in a charitable regard is helping Tia with foster cats/kittens. It is nice to see the animals get adopted off into, hopefully, loving families. Generally they consist of litters of kittens, but this last one was an adult foster named Alexander (though we often just called him Bubba.......no idea why, it just seemed to fit him). He is a hefty cat with diabetes who had lived at the shelter in a small cage for about a year. He doesn't much like other cats, which limited his options for play outside of the cage. He also requires a twice daily dose of insulin and is middle-aged for a cat which, for all intents and purposes, makes him nigh unadoptable. So, we took him in for the foreseeable future to save him from being in the cage (while allowing us the benefit of a pet). Today, he was adopted. It is both a happy day (the new owners seem like a wonderful couple who really want to make the situation work) and sad (he was kind of like one of the family at this point and, despite his limitations, is extremely personable and playful). We will definitely miss having him around, but hopefully another cat will come along that we can also take in. In the interim, I have to get used to being pet free for awhile. Kind of a bummer really.

I went to the volunteer appreciation event for the shelter today with Tia and I am consistently amazed by the wonderful things people have the capacity to do. The gentleman who started the shelter was there (it was his place after all) and talked a bit about starting the shelter some 10 years ago. It has evolved to a point where, not that long ago, they adopted out their 10,000th cat. Truly amazing. Some people donate hundreds of hours a year to their cause. If you are ever out here in Oregon, you should check them out: http://www.catadoptionteam.org/

Time to get my curmudgeonly self to bed. I loathe the idea of Monday morning, but am feeling good about today.