service project or a lesson in glue sticks

This passed Saturday, B dragged me out of bed early - which I totally didn't like, but it was for a good cause. We went to his school, where I lose him every day from 7am to 7pm. So why would he want to go in on the weekend too? That's what I said too, but it was actually really fun. He's a kindergarten teacher at an all girls charter school in urban Brooklyn, and his school is really different. They promote sisterhood, positivity, community, and overall excellence. This is one of the trillion banners hanging in the hallway there.

Anyway, the service project on Saturday was to put together care packages for patients in different areas of  Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn - oncology, pediatrics, general surgery, and rehabilitation. A bunch of girls and their families showed up to put them together. I ended up at a card making station, and being a not-too-artistically inclined person, I did the best I could!

It's not much, but it was fun! I made a few friends, all of whom were under 9 years old, and we made some fun stuff. 

Yes. I made a pop up. With construction paper. You are all infinitely more crafty and artistic than I am. You can make things that I can only dream of. That being said, I might be about to admit something kinda embarrassing...

I was really proud of my pop up!!!

And my new 8 year old best friend, H, was too. She killed it with 5 cards! And I loved helping her with her shapes. She would ask me for a yellow square, or a pink heart, or white, green, and red poofs. (We had been calling the "flowers" that I made on my first card poofs... I'm not sure why.) I'd make them and hand them over to her, and she would create such cute and fun things with them - with my yellow square she made the bottom of a house. She added my pink heart to a drawing of a girl, and wrote, "I hope you get better with my whole heart.". I wish I had remembered to snap some pictures of her cards, but she was done with them so fast and delivering them to packages that I just couldn't keep up!

H and I weren't the only one being creative, B was killing it with construction paper.

It was also nice to connect, even for a short time with a bunch of kids around, with the people that B goes to work with everyday. I secretly hope to make friends with one of his coworkers that I think is pretty darn cool... it's not so much of a secret now, I guess, but I think she's a neat girl, and totally want to be friends with her. Is that a weird thing to say as an adult? As a kid, it's totally acceptable to just ask to be friends with someone but...

hmmm... that feels like a totally different blog post.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this little foray into animal free community service projects! I haven't volunteered for anything that wasn't animal related in so long - I guess that's a side effect of basically running an animal rescue group for 2 years - and it was really fun to see the kids in action toward making others feel important. I loved being able to help them be creative - even in my own limited way. It was really great. I hope I get another chance to do something like it soon.

Do any of you have volunteer projects that really get you excited? What are they? Where can I sign up??

eldercats.

Yesterday I met a handsome 21 year old eldercat named Kincaide.  He was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. His eyes were cloudy, his fur segmented, his back end starting to hollow out, his shoulders hunched - but he was so special and I doubt his face will leave my mind for a long time. He came running (very slowly, on teetering legs) to me and pushed his face into my hands. I scratched and rubbed his face, and got the best reward - the loudest, longest purr I've ever heard from a cat. So thankful, so loving, and so warm.

I wish I had taken a picture.

But, he looks a lot like facebook "figure" Juliet - of The Grannies - a 21 year old cat saved from Animal Care and Control here in Manhattan, with her sister Kate...

Grannies Juliet and Kate, before Kate's passing last year.

Juliet looks just like Kincaide here. Though his eyes are cloudier.
Simply beautiful.

Sadly, sparkly-eyed Katie left us in 2011, but Juliet lives on in a VERY loving home, spreading the message that senior animals really do make the best friends.

Kincaide's mom, C, told me that he'd just gotten out of the hospital for his diabetes. She gives him insulin injections twice everyday, and gives him sub-q fluid daily as well. His quality of life is really fantastic, and she doesn't regret a moment or a dollar, because he's been with her through everything. Divorce, remarriage, divorce, raising her daughter, move after move after move. He's truly the longest relationship she's ever had, after finding him in a parking lot of a diner when her daughter was 5, and he's rewarded her with 21 years of unconditional love and affection. What more can you ask for? To me, nothing.

I can only hope that my beautiful cats, Sookie and The Cheshire Cat, choose to stick with me as long as Kincaide and Juliet.

The Cheshire Cat, having just appeared in a cloud of smoke.

Sookie, trying to abuse the camera.

They're still young - Sook is 2ish and Cess is 5-6 - but I can't help but think about what they'll be like when they're little old ladies, staring at teenaged kids and yelling for their food... which they do already. There's nothing I wouldn't do for them - vet visits, injections, daily fluids, pills, and daily scratches as a thank you. Because I love them.

What do you think your cat(s) will be like in 10 or 15 years? What about your dog(s)?

Mine will remain awesome. ;)