Weeping Endures for a Night

Saturday morning, Lee was browsing Craiglist as he does most days. This particular morning he looked over at me and said, "How about we get a cat?"

Apparently, an ad had caught his eye. So we throw the kids into the van, pick up some kitty litter, and we have a cat within an hour and a half of the idea. That's the way Lee works. And when Lee gets a gut instinct like that, it always works.

Pippin was perfect from the minute I took him in my arms. He had a loud, happy purr that starts when you think about touching him. He's about 8 months old, and he loves people. He doesn't mind the kids' antics and he crawls up on Lee's chest while he is playing video games. We are all in love.

Last night Pippin ran away.

We weren't sure when we stopped hearing his collar bell, but we weren't too worried. He is a good hider. So we searched. And searched. For an hour. Despair set in. I circled the house, calling for him three times. Finally Lee said I had to go to bed. I held back a sob - how could I tell the kids we had already lost the cat we were all so in love with?

Laying in bed, I had a hunch - I ran out to the living room. Sure enough, there was a small hole by one of the air conditioners. I had knocked a board loose the other day and didn't think it was important enough to fix since air conditioner season is about over. That was how he escaped. It was my fault.

I went back to bed and cried as quietly as I could. It hurts Lee when I cry. It makes him feel like it is his fault for not being able to fix the world.

It took me a long time to get to sleep. I prayed. I told God I knew that His ways were higher than my ways, but could He please do my idea this time and send the cat back anyway? I told him I knew my kids needed to learn about sadness and loss, but maybe the lesson could be postponed for now? And I told Him that I knew He was with the fall of every sparrow, so if He could just send the little kitties pawprints back this way, I would be very grateful. I would bless him either way, but please could I have this little gift?

Finally I fell asleep.

I was rustled awake at 5:30 by the Chief. He hadn't been able to sleep either, kept waking up feeling sad and angry, then going back to sleep. But then he woke up at 5 with another feeling - nausea and just a sureness that this was the right time to get up. He peeked out the hole where the kitty escaped and heard the little bell. He walked outside in his boxer shorts and called for the cat. Once, twice, then just as he was going to write it off as his imagination, he found him. Pippin came up to him, rubbed his hand, then Lee scooped him up in his arms and took him inside... and tossed the little mewling needle-footed bundle onto my face. "You so owe me," he said. I was so happy. Then Lee went out and fixed the hole by the air conditioner.

So God answered my prayer by making Lee a hero to me again. As if the Chief completely disassembling and reassembling the toilet to make it work again last night wasn't enough heroic activity for one day.