Not long into the new year we had to say our final good bye’s to our beloved family cat. Miss Paisley had been with our family for almost 15 years and is dearly missed.
My mom pointed out to me a local cat rescue, knowing that we would be open to welcoming a new furry friend into our home. Cats and dogs have always been a part of ‘our family’.
I had a peek through the photos of kitty’s available but didn’t feel pulled to any of them. My daughter had asked if we could check out the cats available for adoption at a local pet store. I had been at this pet store the week before we said good bye to our Pais, I saw all the kitty’s they had, including one that looked like our Pais, a couple orange boys and a black and white girl. Our family likes our boy dogs and girl cats, so we knew she would have to be a little girl to join our family! Although these cats were available, I also did not feel a pull in anyway to go get a cat from there.
Almost a week after saying goodbye to our Paisley, a 4 month old kitten and her sister were posted for adoption. This cat instantly pulled me in! She is a calico kitten named Missy! Her sister even had a strong resemblance to our Paisley. Her birthday is September 10th, also my sister in laws Birthday.
My childhood cat’s name was Misty. She was a calico kitty too. Missy and Misty also have very similar facial markings to each other. My first “signs”! I was about the same age as my daughter is now.
I reached out to the rescue to inquire about Missy. They sent me an adoption application and without even hesitating or waiting to talk to my daughter or my husband or son, I filled out the application and our family was approved!
All signs were pointing me towards adopting this sweet girl into our family.
The rescue put me in touch with Missy’s foster mom to connect and set up a date and time for us to meet her. After speaking with her and getting her address, it felt very familiar to me so I google mapped it. Missy was living just minutes from good friends of ours, around the country corner actually! Why this stood out even more as a sign for me, these friends of ours literally live in the middle of no where in the country. Beautiful spot, but literally out in the country and wide open spaces!
Getting the house ready for a new kitty to join us, having just said goodbye to our Paisley, was slightly challenging, emotionally for me, but yet I also continued to feel guided. Not once did I second guess bringing Missy into our home, the difficulty was missing our Pais and her personality. If you are an animal lover, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Geez, our dog Elwood died 8 1/2 years ago and I still have moments of missing him. Animals are so very unique.
The night before we were to go and meet our Missy, I came home and my son promptly told me to listen to message #14 on the answering machine. It was the vets letting us know our Paisley was back from being cremated and we could pick her up. As incredibly difficult as it was to go into the vets and pick her up, it also felt like the closure our family needed, literally just, before Missy would join our family. Like Paisley was letting me know it was ok, she was ok with us giving this sweet girl a home and family to love her, for her forever. I honestly hadn’t thought we would have Paisley back by then and as much as it hurt, the great big alligator tears that fell as I was sobbing leaving the vets that evening, her and our Elwood are together, and that gives me peace. They are together in heaven and even still on earth as their boxes are side by side. When I opened the door to put Paisley on the shelf beside her brother, I realized what else I had put in there. When I was younger my parents had a plate painted with Misty’s face on it for me. I had thought of this plate the other day when Maddy found the painting I had painted of Misty, but I couldn’t remember where I had put it… until I opened the door and saw it on the shelf.
Some may say these are all coincidences, but I firmly believe in signs from the universe and universal synchronicity. There was a reason I checked the adoption rescue site that day and saw Missy.
There is also no timeline on grief or feelings. As our pets aged we knew with both our dog and cat, we would have another join our family when the time was right. After our Elwood passed, I reached out to the breeder we wanted a dog from to let them know we were interested in getting on the list for a yellow male, knowing this well known breeder almost always had wait lists. Not even a week after our Elwood passed, we received an email, “your boy has arrived!” Not only that, but the dad was the dog my husband had told me approx 6 months prior was the dog he wanted a puppy from… not even choosing this ourselves! When my parents were bringing Hazel into the family we all went out to meet Hazel and her siblings, this is when we met a beautiful boy named Malloy. This dog turned out to be our Becker’s dad! A few years later, after mom and dad had already said goodbye to sweet Hazel, and then Tara, they reached out for another dog to join the family. Kelsey, we then learned, her granpa is Malloy, our Becker’s dad! Look for the signs, they are there I promise! 💫
I’ve found the more you open up to these amazing blessings, the more they will bless you. I am so grateful for following the signs and my heart. Although a piece of it will always be for each of my animals, it’s incredible how much more love we still have in us to give. Knowing we had almost 15 years with our girl, who was by my side through some very difficult times, and also some really incredible times too, though many moves, many renovations, she was a beautiful love and support especially for my daughter and I, as well as a comfort and loved family member of our entire family. We will always miss the heavy footsteps through the house that always had us second guessing if it was the cat or the kids sneaking out of bed 🤣!
With a snow storm on the horizon I was optimistic that we would be able to get there and back before the big storm hit! When we woke up it was clear! 🙏🥰🙌 Thank you!
I felt so sure about this little one and yet a part of me was slightly nervous. I had a big piece of my heart broken saying good bye to Paisley. But, there was nothing to worry about. The heart’s capacity of unconditional love is boundless!
My daughter and I received signs the entire way to meet our Missy! Starting with a quick stop at Timmie’s for my daughter to get a breakfast sandwich and drink, she did great being up at school time on a Saturday 🤣😉. The total came to $7.77. I looked at her and she instantly knew what I picked up on! All the way we saw more 777’s, some 111’s and 222’s! Even while at our friends place she pointed out 222! We were being divinely guided and it felt so reassuring!
As soon as I saw her, I knew. She was meant for our family. When she turned her head to the right, she had such a strong resemblance to my Misty. This little one would get the opportunity to grow up with our kids!
Let the new adventures begin with our Missy… we are back to kitten life!
Your Life As Art Essentials 