Before You Leave

I watched in horror as the cat walked down the road. She was leaving her kittens. Just like that. Through the kitchen window her body became a solitary black dot far down the dirt road. She was gone.

​Minnie, the cat, had went on walkabout and left her two-week old kittens behind.

​Why would she do that? It was so random. She literally had not left the shed since the kittens had been born. I had been bringing her food and water and placing it right beside her nest. She was safe and warm and content. And now she was gone.

​Those kittens must have got real annoying.

​I blinked and shook my head. I squashed down a slightly jealous feeling. A walkabout sounds pretty good.

​It has been one of those weeks. It just has. The blahs battle the anger which battles the exhaustion and not one of them wins. Getting burnt out on our 24/7 job of mom/wife/cook/cleaner/care-coordinator/therapist/animal-caretaker/and-everything-else is simply going to happen.

It is.
​We are human. Human. Human. Human.
​
​But, what are we going to do about it? The neurotic mess in me wants to pout indefinitely. The self-sufficient motivator in me wants to keep pushing on and pretend like all is hunky-dory.

​The truth is that we need a break.
We need other people.
​We need friends and mothers, sisters and brothers, that can laugh off the ongoing lunacy of life.

​We need to stop all this mad multitasking and simply be for a little while. Because we are really just one person.
One soul. One set of hands.

​Let that sink in and give a little love to yourself, to you. Just you.
​Perhaps the cat had to step away, just for a moment, so she could breathe.

​Remember

​God loves all us little mothers. That is part of you, too. 

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So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
​Isaiah 41:10