Mother's Day 2024 - My Mother said......

Just now, I finished reading an essay by journalist Tom Nichols in the Atlantic Daily, an e-mail daily news. The essay was moving, as you might expect from a professional writer. He writes about how, in a dark period in his life, after divorce, a drinking problem and several other sinking weights pulling him down, he adopted a cat from a veterinary office a few doors down from his apartment. As time went on, she kept him company and her purring and her affection helped him in his recovery and soon he had a new partner, a marriage, a home and children. His cat, Carla, adopted and delighted them all. As most cat and dog stories go, this one too had a sad ending. A quote I once saw said (and I paraphrase) “The only thing bad about dogs is their short life span.”) And that is true of dogs and cats. In my relatively long adult life, I am 78, there must have been at least a dozen serious heart attachments rent by the force of time and death. There is a small pet cemetery in my back yard for all the friends who have lived with me and died in this house over the forty years I have lived here. There are four dog graves and about the same number of cats, with white concrete statues and special plants to honor their final resting spot.

Recently, a couple of old high school classmates have been in touch with me via e-mail about their sorrow and grief over the passing of another of our classmates a couple of weeks back. He had severe diabetes and had suffered through several surgeries ending in infection and organ failure. i don’t know why these fellows chose me to contact, but I gave them both the same advice: Get outside into the healing properties of nature. If you can’t walk (and I recommend waking a dog), take a drive in the car and visit the closest historical site and/or park. Also I recommended reading and I realized I missed a really important one - adopt a pet. The best way to move out of your emotional pain is to help someone else. This, I believe!

Recently, in our Woodbury Quaker Meeting, I had mentioned one of my Mother’s sayings, well worth repeating here, “Goodness is its own reward.” And I have found this to be true. Goodness feels good! And it feels especially good to help others in need. The love you give, comes back to you enhanced, enlarged, expanded. And that is especially true if you rescue a cat or dog who needs a home. My dog makes me walk every day. Often, I don’t feel like it but it is my duty, as she reminds me, and through this, she is working to save my life. No matter what I am doing, at home, one of the triplets I adopted from my veterinarian, is always sitting beside me, or on me, or near me, purring to let me know I am loved, and their schedule helps give my day shape.

With this passing on of my Mother’s advice and my own little suggestion about adoption, I wish you a happy Mother’s Day. Remember, you may not have been a mother but we have all had a mother (and a Grandmother or two).

Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com