30 Days of Thanks: Day 14

In 2008, when I lived at Southport Apartments in Belleville, Michigan, I was forced to get rid of Kitty.  I only had her for a few weeks.  I fell in love with her from day one.  And I had a hard time getting rid of her.  At the time I was working two jobs (Federal Mogul and Old Navy) to be able to afford living on my own.  I came home on my lunch from Federal Mogul (because I forgot my clothes for Old Navy to work there that night) and as I walked to my door I found a note from the office stating that I had a cat that was unauthorized and I either needed to pay the $500.00 just have her and the additional $150/month to keep her or get rid of her.  I immediately knew I had to get rid of her.  I didn’t have the money.  I took her right up to the humane society and as I was standing in line there was a man with his son.  He looked sketchy.  He looked like he was cracked out and on some type of drugs.  He was in line with his son to purchase a cat.  I was in line to get rid of my cat.  I was in a hurry (since I was on my lunch hour) and asked him if he would just like this cat (for free!).  He was all for it but I needed him to sign a note saying that he took the cat so I could submit that to the office of the apartment complex.  He quickly signed the note with his name, stating that he took her and signed it with a phone number (just in case).  I quickly left in tears and drove back to the apartment complex to give them the note before returning back to work.

Bobby was nice enough to go to my apartment that night and get rid of the cat litter, food and toys so I wouldn’t have to come home to it with no cat.  I was very sad that night.  I cried off and on all night long.  I felt this overwhelming guilt of giving her to some stranger with a drug problem.  The very next morning I called this guy, I was desperate to find her, to get her back.  I looked up this guy on Google and even drove by several of his old addresses he had listed.  I found nothing.  No man and no cat.  Bobby was still in school at the time, at the University of Michigan, and he continued to call the phone number and leave voice mails for a few days following.  I was so busy working that I really didn’t have the time to do it.

One night, while I was working at Old Navy, I got an email alert on my phone from Bobby.  The email said this:  “Look who it is” and it had a photo of Kitty attached.  My heart stopped beating and I felt like I couldn’t breathe.  I took my 15-minute break and called him immediately.  He said that the man finally called him back and that he agreed to give the cat back for an exchange of $50.00.  Bobby met up with him and exchanged the cat for the money.  The man wanted to do the exchange at the same exact time.  I guess he feared Bobby would take the cat and run and the man didn’t want to be out of his $50.00.  So pathetic!

I felt so awful when I saw her.  She was infested with fleas and looked awful.  I treated her immediately, that night and got rid of the fleas.  I held her so tight the following night and I promised to never, ever let her go again.  She was worth more than any amount of money to me.  And I was so sorry that I ever let her go.

Today, Kitty is almost 6 years old.  She is the smartest most loving Kitty ever.  I don’t know what I’d do without her.  She gives so much love it’s overwhelming.  She sits next to me when I cry, licks me constantly and sleeps close to me every single night.  I’m thankful for her love and affection.  And thankful that Bobby got her back that day.  Did I mention, how lucky I was to be married to this man?