It's almost 10pm here in Swavesey and I haven't packed a thing, although we're leaving tomorrow night for the hotel near Heathrow. Nothing. In fact I haven't even pulled out a suitcase. What have I been doing? Dishes, laundry, shopping, cleaning, discovering that there are actual pet visiting businesses and desperately calling them all in hopes of finding someone who can come and check on Nelly....I left one message, and one woman told me that although she is extremely busy that if I was desperate to call her back and she might be able to squeeze a short visit to our house in to get a key and stuff. I may be calling her tomorrow. All of our neighbors and our friends are going away for xmas and New Year. I dropped off the key to our place with our friends who are going to come and pick Nelly up so she can stay with them while we're in Sydney, and I'm feeling some stress about that as well because poor Nelly has been handed off to so many people, I don't want her to be afraid or stressed or wondering if these new people are her new people forever. Besides having comparative strangers come in and grab her and take her somewhere else....I wish there was another way, but there just isn't.
I've learned a good lesson about parenting from this, although I'm not a parent- some things have cross over application. :) I've come to the conclusion that no matter how hard I try I simply can't keep Nelly from experiencing a cat version of concern about what is happening, wondering where we've gone, being afraid of these new people and a new environment, or remembering all of her past transfers to other people over which she had no control. I have to make the best decision for her even though it is going to result in some fear and anxiety for her, and having 2 people who will love her and give her attention and care for her needs for 4 weeks is infinitely better than being stuck in a cattery in a small cage or being alone at home for 4 weeks. Anyway, pr that father will provide someone who can come over the next 2 weeks. Although Nelly will be experiencing some unpleasant things, I will be pring that she will trust us as best a cat can.
There are many many parallels to my lessons in taking care of Nelly and Gd's taking care of us. In part because he has given every person free choice, we will experience negative things in our lives that are outside our control. But when things are difficult and we feel like we can't see him or we can't understand why something is happening, or why he would allow it, we have to trust him and remember his great love for us, and rely on that knowledge to keep us going. I'm so thankful for a Gd who cares about these things, even my cat.
We're looking forward to seeing you all and spending time with you all- FYI for those at CCBC my little niece is in a pageant at my mom's chch on Sunday (the pageant was pushed back due to the snow storm) so although we had originally planned to be at CCBC Sunday, we'll see you all Monday night at the srvce then instead.
Now I'm off to pack. Who knows what I'll forget, but thankfully there's always Kiwanis and A2 thrift stores. So long as I have my passport I'm good. :)
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