​Mama Kitty
– Helen Morrison, President, Board of Directors
 
I am sitting at my dining table.  It is May, early Spring in Northern Vermont.  I look out on tiny pale green or tiny dark red leaves on trees….a sort of fuzz of soft color.  These leaves are so new and perfect, like babies’ feet.  The grass is intensely green in the sun, almost hard to look at.  Bursts of daffodil yellow, tulip red, in the midst of green.
 
It is Mother’s Day.  I think on what mothering means….protection, nurture.   We mother our children, our pets, our gardens, Mother Earth.  Protecting…nourishing….nurturing.
 
I think on Mama Kitty. She has been on my mind a lot lately.  A beautiful, long-haired black, feral girl…living outside, down the road from the Shelter.  She has mothered so many kittens that have come to the Shelter and found homes.  Mama… tended to for 13 years by Nancy P.  That is a very long time for a feral cat to survive outside.  Every day, Nancy would go to feed Mama Kitty, check on her.  Mama Kitty had many male friends over those years.  There was Othello, all white, that helped Mama Kitty have Olaf, also all white. 
Then…there was a tabby dad…and Mama Kitty gave birth to Feebie and Haley.
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Feebie
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Haley

And then a beautiful gray boy showed up, Daddy Kitty…and together he and Mama Kitty had Dora and Elmo and Elsa and Monty.
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Dora
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Elmo
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Elsa
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Monty
 
Mama was very savvy about traps. Nancy P trapped her at one point, but she was nursing, so she had to let her go.  But finally, several years ago, Nancy trapped Mama Kitty, and she was spayed and got her shots…and was released back to the outdoors.  She was most comfortable outdoors.  Nancy always provided shelter for the winter…and food always, every day.
 
And here is the most amazing and beautiful thing.  Daddy kitty and Mama Kitty are like an old married couple.  Even when Mama Kitty could no longer have kittens…Daddy kitty would go off on brief forays.  But he would always come back to be with Mama Kitty…sitting right next to her, leaning into her, sometimes even having his arm around her.  The best of friends.
 
We haven’t seen Mama Kitty for a while.  But Daddy Kitty comes back often…getting his mothering from Nancy P, and maybe, just maybe….he will come back one day and Mama Kitty will be there, waiting for him.  Wouldn’t that be the most wonderful thing.