Author Archives: Humor Happens

It’s official. Today I became the mom of my second terminally ill kitty. The first was earlier this year when Daffodil was diagnosed with Kidney disease. Today, a tumor was found to take over more than half of one of Daisy’s lungs. She may have days, weeks, or months, but in the meantime, I have her and her sister with me.

On January 30, 1999, two adorable and feral kitties entered our home, our lives, and our hearts. They were healthy, happy, and humbled to be given everything a girl could want: three squares a day, a roof over their heads (with a comfy bed beneath them), and unending human devotion.

Now, they are on the other end of life. They still have a home with plenty of soft surfaces, a loving family, and three squares are offered daily. But now they don’t always feel able to eat, they enjoy the soft surfaces more than ever before, and they need the love to make the illnesses tolerable.

One blessing for me is that I have the ability to pray and decide when to end their suffering. I pray that I will do so without being selfish. In the meantime, I am going to love them even more than I already have. I am going to enjoy every moment with them. I am going to offer them whatever food options I can get them to eat.

They are worth the journey. I pray you have love in your life that is worth the journey.

Moral of the Story: From ashes to ashes and dust to dust, make the middle time worth the while.

Kim shooting a gun using air during scenarios at Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center

I’m a baby killer. It’s true, yesterday, I killed a baby.

For work, we had a pretty awesome tour of the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center Thursday. It just so happened to include firing real guns (with air instead of bullets) during practice scenarios. The scenario I and my colleague Penny ended up in front of was with a kidnapper.

This criminal held the baby in front of him as a shield while shooting at us. During my first ever time holding a weapon such as this, I didn’t aim high enough to shoot the creep in the head, but I shot the baby right through the middle.

Later, we had the opportunity to use a machine gun in desert scenes with military missions. My supervisor managed to get off the most rounds in the time allotted for the test: 93. She had to reload three times to do it, with help of course from our tour guide.

All in all, our colleagues fear us: She for being the fastest with the machine gun and me for killing their children and laughing while I realized my mistake.

My kitty living with terminal kidney failure needs to go to the vet now and again. This last time, she was starting to get dehydrated, and I needed to take her in. The vet was very kind and shared something that warmed my heart and soul.

The vet was listening to Miss Daffy’s heart. I had been petting Daffy, but she started to fidget anyhow, so I began talking to her. The vet said to keep it up – my voice was slowing her heartbeat to normal levels. Me? I make someone in my life regular! Who knew?

I give thanks to hear from a third party that her love of me is confirmed yet again. In all of this life’s turmoil, I needed to hear that. Thank you, Dr. Penny!

This reminded me of my grandma. My mother’s mother. I remember once going into her room, and she waved me in although she and my mom were talking. I gave her a hug, like always, and my mom left us alone to visit.

Later, on the way home, my mom asked if I noticed anything different about grandma that day. I didn’t. She asked if I remember that they were talking, and I came into the room. I did. She said that her mother’s face lit up when I came into the room. I said that grandma always looked that way.

I don’t ever recall grandma without a smile. (Well, except when I smashed her toe under the bathroom door, but we’ll forget that one instance.) For me, she was always a bright spot in any and every day. After what my mom said, I knew that I was a bright spot for her too.

Now, I am honored to be that for someone else. And Daffy is a bright spot for me.

Moral of the Story: May you find that you are the bright spot for someone in your life.

Some things are easier to give thanks over than others. For example, it was too hot for me today. I’m not a fan of the 80’s. It’s just too much. In addition, I have a migraine today. Probably due to barometric changes.

This afternoon, I took a nap to try to end the migraine. It didn’t work, but when I got up, I was just too hot. Even though I felt miserable, I had to get the window air conditioners installed. I couldn’t stand one more moment of the heat. This evening, all are installed, and the house feels so very much better.

Tonight, I am giving thanks with every breath I take, every time I get up and the back of my knees aren’t sweaty, every time I walk from the living room to the kitchen and don’t break out in a sweat, and every time run my hands through my hair and it is no longer dripping with sweat.

I very much find these window air conditioners easy to give thanks to God for when it’s too hot for me to handle.

Moral of the story: Sometimes it is hard to remember to give thanks to God. But when it is easy, be sure to give it gladly and with hymns of praise.