After months of dedication to playing by the rules, in two very different situations, I had two very different outcomes today. One I can only hint at, according to terms I agreed to last summer. The short version is that I should never have even teasingly said on Facebook that I could call myself a professional writer now. Today, the achievement I thought I had unlocked was yanked away from me for something I didn't do, and for reasons that are not fully explained in the correspondence to me. I am angry and bitter and stressed out now. Mostly angry. I did not game the system, but I am being punished as if I did.
The much better news today came this afternoon, when I went to the shelter to pick up Athena following yesterday's surgery. I filled out a small tree's worth of paperwork, paid fifty dollars cash (half of what I expected), and they brought her out in her pretty pink carrier. While I sat in the adoption hall, the girl in charge of the foster program came through on a mission. She and I made eye contact, and I was able to tell her excitedly that the adoption was finally happening. She was happy for the both of us. I think she had gotten rather fond of Athena too, and she was glad we finally won our bid to be officially a family. My angry Ewok did not appreciate that I was so desperately hungry by the time that I left with her that I stopped at a drive through on the way home to get some chicken. I tried to give her a couple pieces, and when I unzipped the carrier a few inches to offer her a bite, her entire arm shot out, all claws extended, and she showed me how little she appreciated the last 36 hours. When she got home, the rest of the pride sniffed her and treated her like she was a stranger. Really, guys? After one night away? My melancholy baby even hissed at her more than once. Things are settled now. She seems to forgive me.
The one disappointment I had from the adoption process was they never got on the intercom and announced that Athena found her forever home. Almost every time we were there for checkups, at least one announcement like that would be made. Why didn't they do it for her? She found her forever home. Or at least her forever family. I can't guarantee anything about the actual structure yet.
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