Christmas Day Alone…
Divorced and with a grown daughter living almost 3000 miles away, for a few years Christmas Day for me could have been lonely. If I had a gentleman in my life, I would invite him to my home for the day. But usually, I was alone. I would celebrate Christmas Eve with my sister and her family but “the Day” would find just me and my two cats.
One year I decided to volunteer for the day at out local animal shelter. The staff were overjoyed to have an extra person. I was given the duty of emptying the litter boxes in the cat cages and refilling them. That was a job I knew well and felt I could do it well…until I was in a separate area with more cats and cages.
I reached inside one cage to get the cute, young cat out and suddenly found it hanging from my forearm by her small but sharp kitten teeth. My coworker said, “Just put her down…” I answered, “I don’t have a hold on her, she has a hold on me.”
I finally got kitty off me, and I was cleaned up with Betadine, wrapped in gauze and sent home with lots of cautions about what an infection would look like. They didn’t know I was a nurse, but I accepted all help gladly and wished all — including the little feline Dracula — a “merry” and went home to my calmer cats.
Since I was part of our nursing home management company’s quality assurance team, the next Christmas I decided to volunteer in…
