One Must Know The Bitter To Taste The Sweet

Remember the post, Drama Central at the Greene House? Some of you thought I was nuts for allowing the kids to feed and keep the stray momma cat until she gave birth. Many of you thought I was insane because I wasn't livid about her crawling through the doggy door to have her kittens in the house! And of course there were others of you, who warned me about how difficult it would be when the day came for the kittens to leave.

Since May 11th, when the kittens were born, my kids and I have had numerous discussions about the fact that the cats would not be staying with us forever. I explained in great detail how sad it would be for the kids, because they loved the kittens so much. Anna, Ella and Brennan have enjoyed a tremendous amount of fun watching, playing with, and loving the kittens from day one. Watching them learn to open their eyes, take their first steps, see them learn to play with each other, and snuggle with them, are all experiences I would not have wanted my kids to miss out on.

Sunday was "the day". My uncle, (the kids' Great Uncle Dan), came with his carrier to take the kittens to his friend Willene's house in Houston. She, having a great love for cats, said she was certain she could find good homes to adopt them out to. Before he arrived, I tried to prepare the kids. Brennan didn't really seem to mind too much. Anna and Ella on the other hand, became very emotional. They were once again reminded of the choices previously made. "Remember, we had chosen to keep them and love them until they were ready to go to new homes, even though we knew it would be hard and that we would miss them."

When Dan came, the girls were boo-hooing. He nor my mother can stand to see my kids cry, so he wasted no time in whisking the kittens out the door. Like pulling off a band aid, he made quick work of it. After he left, the girls were heart-broken, but we sat together on the couch and just let it all out (no. . . no tears from me, but I was trying to be sympathetic). Lest any of you placed bets on my lack of stalwartness, I did cave. We are keeping Starbright (the momma), and the fun, sweet, gray and white bobtail, Joel.

Just as Uncle Dan and Nana don't like to see my children cry, neither do I. None of us like to see our children disappointed, hurt, sad or any other negative emotion. But there is one thing I do know. We can't shield our children from unpleasant experiences all their lives, no matter how much we want to. Children should learn that parallel to happiness, there will also be sadness. We cannot know one without the other. For that reason, I chose this memorable event in my children's lives to help them understand that it is possible to love, then let go, and it's okay.