Love What You Do

I have to admit that I've spent the past few years a little upset that I don't have a career job. I've blamed the Navy. I've blamed myself, but in the end, it still just upsets me. I have a college degree that I feel like I am wasting. I also feel like I need to make at least some money for myself so thankfully I have survived off of temp jobs and nanny/babysitting jobs. I can't really complain too much. I still don't like to think of the fact that I will probably never have the career I once wanted, but at the same time, I also really appreciate the flexibility that my schedule allows now.

I have always said that I want to open my own animal rescue. In my mind, I'd have a cat rescue, and take in some other animals on the side, but mainly cats. Its not a job that would earn me any money since rescues typically operate as a non-profit organization. So I'm aware that a lot of my own money would have to invested into this venture. I've also wondered if its something that I can actually achieve, and I've decided that it is.

For the past few months I have felt more stressed and overwhelmed than I ever have in my entire life. I feel like I haven't had any time to myself to have fun, and when I stop to think about what I've been doing thats taking up so much time, I find that I can't actually answer that question. I don't know what I've been doing except fixing problems, cleaning, organizing, and stressing out.

In the midst of my stress a few weeks ago, my friend called me from the Veterinary Clinic she works at and asked me if I wanted to foster a litter of orphaned kittens. No one was able to foster them from the clinic and the woman who usually would, wasn't in. So call the crazy cat lady to do the job! I agreed, and I went to pick up 4 adorable, motherless kittens.

I have to admit that I had a moment when I thought that I really shouldn't be taking on any more tasks because it will only stress me out more, but I just can't say no to abandoned animals.

Surprisingly, while these kittens did take up a lot of my time, they also relaxed me. I enjoyed bottle feeding them. I enjoyed spending a large part of my day playing with them to ensure that they would be socialized. My life was still spinning out of control around me, but the kittens calmed me down.

I only had them for a few weeks before the clinic put them up for adoption, and they were adopted very fast. I have to admit that while I was happy they found homes quickly, I also cried a little at first. The crying made me think that this isn't something I can do, but it didn't last long and while I miss the little guys, it does make me happy to know that they didn't die when they lost their mother, and now, because of me, they are happy and healthy and have good homes.

I do still have one kitten with me for now. This particular one is going home with Larry (read past blogs for crazy Larry stories), because Larry took an instant liking to him, and Larry's owners agreed that Larry will be lonely when he leaves a house full of cats and returns to his empty house, with a new baby. Larry's "dad" has named the kitten Moe, and the 2 of them are pretty inseparable. So I am happy that I get to enjoy this kitten for a little while longer.

My point of all this is, is that I think I would really do well with my own rescue. When a person is already stressed and you just lay more work on them, that tends to stress them out more right? Well, in this case, it helped my stress, so clearly what I was doing was something that I loved doing. I would love to foster kittens again. And I hope that one day, I really will be the owner of my own animal rescue. Maybe that will end up being my career, even though I probably won't ever make a dime from it :-).

I took tons and tons of pictures of these little guys, but here are some (ok a bunch) of my favorites: