The day after our dear friend Chris passed away, grief was fresh but elusive (because my brain doesn’t process grief linearly, and instead waits to latch onto something seemingly inconsequential to grieve over). I felt both restless and absent, my brain buzzing and numb, my body twitchy and exhausted. When the foster email list came through, I latched onto it. Can’t process grief? Why not rescue some kittens so that your grief energy at least has an outlet? No, that’s probably not the healthiest method of dealing with my shit, but it’s also not the unhealthiest – it’s certainly better than getting drunk or sleeping all day – and in the meantime, some kittens get rescued. I can put some good out in the world while occupying my brain and body with something other than restless don’t-know-how-to-grieve.

Enough of that. Meet Puddles and Droplet, the newest temporary members of the household. They’re 4-5 weeks old and just weaned from bottle to gruel (a mix of kitten milk and wet food). Both little girls are so very sweet and have clearly never known anything but love from humans before. Likely bottle fed from pretty early on in their life. Both love to be cuddled and to have their bellies pet. Puddles (no orange spot on the forehead) goes into crazy zoomie mode, running around like mad. Droplet started equally energetic, but after about 24 hours, she developed a severe illness that caused her to lose a massive amount of weight. It was the worst case we’ve ever had and we weren’t sure she was going to make it before we could get meds for her. Thankfully, we were able to get her vet care yesterday, and both girls began a medicine regimen (Puddles as precautionary, since the two are always together). Droplet rallied a little yesterday, gaining back a tiny bit of weight. She’s not out of the woods yet but I hope we can help her to fully regain her health!

They’ve only been with us for a few days  now, and yes, their cute little personalities – not to mention the focus to care for a medical crisis – help to heal the soul. Honestly, I think that Chris would have loved that I’ve channeled that grief into saving these little babies. He would have approved, he would have heartily recommended that I write in to get them that day, even if I did so with my brain numb and my heart on hiatus.