I think also of the orphans we have. Two brother-sister pairs who are barely 6 weeks and 8 weeks old, respectively. Far too young to be without a mother to hold them, feed them, and provide them the warmth they need in which to sleep. These orphans I understand well, because I, too, lost my mother at a very early age.
Try as I might, I cannot remember her well because I was so very young. All that remains are bits and pieces of the traumatic consequences. One day I was with her, and the next somehow I was out there on the street. Weeks went by, and I cried and cried as I searched, but could not find her. Alone and scared, each night instead of sleeping by her side, I huddled in alleyways against the cold. Hunger was my constant companion. I found terrible things to eat, and that only occasionally enough to make me grateful. Over time, I felt myself becoming weaker. A persistent cough developed, and the light in my right eye began to dim into blindness. With it dimmed the light of my spirit.
But always I held onto what had become a vision of Mother. She was strong, and beautiful, and loving. She had fed me and watched over me when I slept and was always there to comfort me with her gentle purr.
Imagine my surprise, when several months later having regained my health in Cat-Dad's home,I saw a picture on his mantle of a beautiful white cat. She had the majestic appearance of confidence, yet the warm glow of motherhood that surrounded her like an aura. Surely, it was Mother!But no, he said. That is Francesca, a very special angel who was rescued from a shelter with her five young kittens many years before I had even been born. She was sent there because her people no longer wanted her. It was a long time ago that Francesca and her kittens had come to live for a brief time in our foster home.
Yet still that picture is special to me, and I will always think of it as my memory of Mother. It is that vision which years later, I still carry. I know not what became of Mother, and if she still lives what path she now travels. But regardless, the bond I feel will always exist. Even today, at two-and-a-half years old, I still feel the urge to climb into that picture and snuggle up into her motherly warmth. Such is the constant dream of all orphans, and I believe the reason why Cat-Dad keeps this picture of a very special angel on the mantle for all of us to see.
With love for all,
Noel
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Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
- Author Unknown
