Journal of a Sabbatical |
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April 18, 2001 |
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laps for cats not laptops |
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Adopt these cats at Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society National
Poetry Month Poet of the Day: Today's Reading: Claws and Effect by Rita Mae Brown Today's
Starting Pitcher: Plum Island Bird List |
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Savannah, Re-Re, and Kiara are in a
three-way stand off with ears back
No matter how often I do this, I am amazed at the way people respond to the cats. One woman was curled up on her bed sucking her thumb. When I put Curly down on her bed, he snuggled right up next to her arm and she took her thumb out of her mouth, gave him a big smile and reached over to pet him. She had this look of pure joy on her face as Curly rubbed his nose against her palm. A man I remember from previous visits was staring at the ceiling in his room. As soon as I came in, he reached out to Curly and motioned for me to put him on the bed. Again a big smile. Over and over again people light up when they touch a cat. The folks who can talk all tell me how soft he is and how good it feels to stroke him. Up on the second floor, one of the nurses aides told me I had to bring Curly to this one woman who just loves cats even more than Mrs. L. It would be hard to love cats more than Mrs. L. but the nurses aide was right. The woman had relatives visiting from California (they had to comment on this morning's snow :-) ). They were all gathered in one of the small sitting rooms. Her face lit up when she spotted Curly. I put him in her lap and he cuddled with her engagingly. The out of town relatives were so impressed they gave me a donation for MRFRS. Curly dropped off to sleep in the woman's arms. The relatives took pictures from all angles. Gail and Emily caught up with me and everybody went nuts over Emily too. More pictures. Emily sprawled out on the woman's lap and I took Curly to visit a few more room-bound people. Finally, at the very last room I visited on the second floor Curly started to squeak, his distress noise, and stiffen his tail. Time to go. He's had enough visiting for today. We'd been there over an hour. Which would you rather have on your lap? A cat or a laptop? For the folks at Brigham, the answer is definitely a cat. |
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Copyright © 2001, Janet I. Egan |