Being Met in the Grief

We've had a sad past 24 hours. Aurora, the kitten we were going to adopt when she was old enough, died. She was born on my birthday, so was 15 days old when she died. When we went to meet her, she still had her eyes closed, and we fed her with a cute little baby animal bottle.

Aurora and her brother and sister were abandoned by their mother. A family from church took them in and were providing the round-the-clock care that such little ones require.

They had all been doing well, making appropriate milestones. Aurora had even stood up on all fours the morning she started acting "not right".

She had quit feeding well, and had been taken to the vet. There, she was given some antibiotics, probiotics, vitamin/calorie paste and was heading home. Her human 'grandma', turned around and went back to the vet, where they confirmed her worst fears.

The thing that struck me about the story, I heard from someone else. The someone else is another woman from church, who happened to be at the vet at the time. She was able to be with our friend through the process. Met in the midst of her grief.

Telling the kids was a bit of a challenge too. My boy, acted just like a boy: "Well, the vet SAID she had only a small chance of surviving." My girl, acted just like a girl: She cried and cried, and called out her name, asked all the "Why?" questions and wanted to snuggle in my bed to fall asleep.

Meet her in her grief, Lord...

I continue to pray for the other two kitties, for their human family, and for my children....