Thursday, November 1, 2007

The best laid plans...

Those of you who know me a little already, know that jewelry is not my only passion. I have dedicated much of the past 3o years to dog and cat rescue and orphaned wildlife rehabilitation, particularly song birds, along with animal charity fundraising and working with other animal welfare groups. One of my ongoing projects for the last 10 years since I moved to the country, is providing sanctuary to feral cats. I give them a cozy home and work with these completely wild cats in an attempt to socialize them. If they are young enough they are adoptable and we find good homes for them, and keep the ones who are not adoptable. I also work with a couple of agencies and my township to have ferals who live outside, neutered and spayed to keep the colony from growing.

On Saturday morning, Joey, one of my 'stay with me forever' feral males, a gorgeous big Tahitian pearl gray with intense green eyes the color of emeralds, exhibited signs of FUS and was rushed to the Vet. He was hooked up to a catheter and I.V. and had to be transferred to an emergency clinic and closely monitored over the weekend. On Monday he was transferred back to my Vet and still was doing poorly. On Tuesday the catheter was pulled to see if he could operate on his own and he came home where I monitored his every move. Unfortunately Joey's body was just not meant to last. He was euthanized on Halloween day. We took him as far as he could go, and there was no hope.

The weekend had been planned to stay put in one place—at the computer adding previously prepared content to SPJ for the big Grand Opening on Halloween. I had worked on my material for months and all I had to do is just pop it in and the site would be done. Well, my heart was just not in it over the weekend. That's the difference between creating a commercial website for the purpose of making money and creating a website as a personal statement and labor of love like SPJ. I could not focus and I make no excuses for the site not being complete, but thought perhaps an explanation was in order for those of you who have Showcases on the site and others who were patiently waiting to see the completed site.

Today is a day of mourning. I feel sad that Joey did not make it, and miss his soft meow. He was a wonderful boy full of trust, and a love we had carefully and not so easily built into a bond during the last 9 months since he came in out of the cold. He felt betrayed in the end as I had to trick him into the crate that took him to his final destiny. Joey was a very soft natured wild cat, and it was the first time he ever hissed at me. Cats have a sense about things, an uncanny intuition about what's going to happen. He lies outside now in my rose garden, buried deep in the earth, embraced in the arms of the natural world where he always belonged.

And me, well, tonight I am sitting back down at the computer, and tomorrow, and the day after that... You will love SPJ as we grow and become the ultimate jewelry shopping guide and most importantly, a celebration of wearable art for jewelry lovers. Thanks for joining us for the journey!

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