Author: deborahanndykeman

I think it’s safe to say that most of us enjoy a story with a happy ending. You want those characters that you fell in love with, or even hated, to go on and do great things. Readers want to be left on a high note, not feeling depressed.

If you have read my posts over the past couple of months, you know about our kitten capers. You shared in our loss of our beloved Cassie…shortly after we gave the two kittens to the shelter. We wanted Cassie to feel at home in her waning years, not harassed by kittens, or having to share her space. So, we gave them away, rather than share our home with them.

Then, the third kitten, sibling to the previous two was found. So, after only a few days, about a week and a half after being cat-less, we decided to keep Callie. We had missed the kitten duo, but prayed they had found good homes. Callie has become a fat and sassy four-month old kitten. She has filled out, and has lovely fur.

I had named the two kittens Georgie and Feonie. I have taken a lot of grief about that last name. But she just looked like a Feonie. Say peony, but replace with an ‘f’. Names that are different intrigue me. Growing up as Deborah, morphed into Debbie when I was in school. Half the classes I attended back in the ’70’s were filled with Debbies! So, in my late teens, I went to Deborah, to set myself just a bit apart.

Feonie was a very special little kitten, as you can see by the above picture. She is the one on the left. Georgie was adorable too, but very rambunctious, and rather a bully. We wanted Cassie’s sweet demeanor. Feonie had the loudest purr, and she loved to just cuddle on your lap, or snuggle around your neck. She was very loving, and I thought very special. After she was gone, I felt terrible for giving her away, but I didn’t want to keep her and not Georgie. It didn’t seem fair to him, and I didn’t want to be the one to separate them. I would wake in the middle of the night, thinking of ways that it would be possible to get Feonie, but not Georgie, but always praying that they were well and in good homes. We also thought it would be very special for Callie and Feonie to be able to grow up together. Callie was a very lonely kitten on the days when we couldn’t all be at home!

Yesterday, we were in Topeka to have our car worked on. My husband had taken the day off because there was the potential to have some major work done, and I didn’t want to be the one dealing with that. So it was a rare day for all three of us to be together. We walked around the mall and had lunch…just different and enjoyable. As we were leaving, I asked if we could stop by the animal shelter, the same one where my father had taken the kittens. We are rarely in Topeka, and not usually during business hours. So, the timing was perfect. I just wanted to see if Georgie and Feonie had been adopted. It had been two months since we had given them away…August 1st. No chance for them to still be at the shelter.

This shelter is lovely inside. Very well taken care of, and I’m so very happy that there is such a place in Topeka. They are doing an amazing job! We walked around all the places where cats and kittens were staying. The cages, behind glass had little speakers so you could talk to the occupant. There were several rooms behind glass where feline’s were grouped according to ages, it seemed. After about the third large room, we came to a window with kittens about the ages that Georgie and Feonie would have been. There was a kitten there that looked very much like Georgie, and it was scrapping with another kitten. So the same attitude was there! Then, a calico kitten walked out from beneath a set of kitten hammocks…and it turned and looked at our daughter and I. There was Feonie’s face staring back, walking toward us. She reached up a paw, and from the look on her face…she recognized us! But none of the names on the window matched.

We filled out the paper work, after telling our story. We were then sent in to speak with a counselor, so we could find out the details about that particular calico kitten. We all kept thinking it couldn’t be Feonie…not after two months.

That little kitten was our Feonie! They had renamed her Dandelion, which is why her name didn’t match. Her brother Georgie had been adopted on August 29th. Because Feonie had a respiratory infection, she had been taken off the adoption list until she was well. She had just been released for adoption a week or so before.

Now, you can say that this was all by chance. It was luck, just a coincidence. I believe that God had His hand in the workings of the kitten saga from the very beginning. He knew that Cassie would no longer be a part of our family. Callie was found, moments before being crushed, and Feonie was waiting for us. I pray Georgie is in a good home, playing to his heart’s content in his kitten, rambunctious way.

When we went into the little room to visit with Feonie, to see if she would be a good fit for us to adopt…she ran to us. She climbed to each of our shoulder’s in turn, wrapping her tiny body around our necks, and tapping her head against our chins. Her purr filled the room.

She is in her forever home, with her sister. She recognized our furniture, and her little dishes. She and Callie are getting to know one another again. God’s timing is perfect, His ways are not our ways. And that’s a Happy Ending!