Author: Noelle Sparks

Your Imagine Home Admins have learned that our drivers are the precious key to a successful transport. Today, we celebrate a group of angels on one particular transport, but realize that each and every one of our drivers has been a kitty angel, here on earth. And we love and thank them all for their help.

The recent transport of Mini even if it were 10 years ago, it would still hold a special place in our hearts and minds. Mini’s journey was an epic tale of travel, in more ways than one. We first heard about Mini from a post on our wall (yes, we actually do read them!) Mari was pleading for somebody to foster her Mini cat until she could figure out a way to get him from New York City to Arizona.

Mari and her husband had found themselves in a tough place, like many people in today’s tough economy. They were losing their jobs and as a result, their home in New York city. They ultimately decided to relocate to Arizona where Mari’s family lives. For the interim, Mari and her husband had somewhere to stay – but Mini could not go with them due to severe allergies in their temporary home.

And so began the frantic search for someone to foster Mini until the family made the trip in October. Mari wanted a nearby foster so Mini could fly out with her, but was having no luck at all. Neither was Imagine Home in our repeated shares of her plight.

As Mari left her home, she was so desperate to keep him out of the shelter, she sent Mini to their vet to get a health certificate so he could travel alone, by plane, to Arizona. Since Mini weighed in at 23 pounds, he would travel in the cargo hold, a standard airline policy. Mari considered this the best option available but really didn’t like taking that risk.

As Jack (see Day One) would have it, there was a pair of cats going through Pennsylvania the next day, West to East. One of our Admins, Linda Rattenni, was involved. Linda offered to foster for as long as needed, if we could get Mini closer to her in Pittsburgh. It so happened, Teresa Dechert, another Admin, who lives in New Jersey, was involved in that same transport. Linda and Teresa split the driving distance for the ongoing transport, Linda handed off the 2 eastbound kitties, got Mini from Teresa, and headed home. Two kitty angels earned their wings that day.

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Now safely fostering with Linda, Imagine Home began recruiting drivers for Mini’s journey back to his mother. Everything was proceeding smoothly, we thought, until we discovered that Albuquerque, New Mexico was hosting their annual Balloon Festival that draws people from all over the world. It seemed like we were trying to hold a bunch of cooked spaghetti in our hands, because each time we filled one leg, somebody else would have to pull out! One of our cardinal rules is that we will postpone any transport not filled within 48 hours of start time. Because this was such a lengthy transport and involved our largest number of drivers, we were bending that rule on the Friday night before Mini’s journey started. If it was humanly possible to find a person, we were going to do it. Worse still, we were getting runsheets sent back to us because of bad email addresses!

We were on the brink of postponing Mini’s transport when an 11th hour angel arrived in the form of Tracy Patton. We’ll never know why Tracy made the offer, but incredibly, Mini’s angel was going to take him from Missouri, all the way home, and throw in a hotel room with her nip-aholic friend to boot! What was going to originally take 3 days over two weekends was now going to be a “simple” 2 day run.

October 5th finally arrived, and our Indian Summer chose that day to become a memory. Instead, we awoke to a nationwide storm that had drivers gritting their teeth. Our first day of travel included construction, torrentially blinding rain, and one very chillaxed cat passenger. No matter the weather or the time, every single one of Mini’s drivers arrived at their destinations with smiles on their faces.

At the end of the journey, the day that Mini and Mari were finally reunited, we’d love to think that Mini finally got it. We believe that when Mini saw his mom, that the hours in the carrier with strangers were worth it to him. And most of all, we are grateful to Mini’s angel drivers who went far above and beyond that day, to help a charming oxymoronical cat named Mini reunite with his mother. Mini is just one example, but we thank all of our drivers, past and present for caring enough to take a few hours of their precious free time to help save “just a cat.” ~noelle~

On this beautiful November day, as I sit at my computer with one cat in my lap and my senior sleeping nearby in her super warm bed, I am grateful to all the cats that I’ve had in my life.

My very first cat came into my life when I was 5 years old. I don’t remember if Midnight was a boy or a girl, but I vividly remember a sleek and beautiful solid black house panther. Midnight, and our German Shepherd, Wolfgang, both needed to be rehomed when my Air Force father got stationed in Germany for 3 years. We knew that it would be cruel to have to quarantine them for months on each side of the move.

While in Germany, we didn’t have cats or dogs, much to my dismay. I was sure that the addition of either to our family would make our life perfect. I waited for 3 very long years for some new family members. In the meantime, I had to content mself with books and a brother with cooties.

After our return to the states, we soon acquired the first of two cat and dog combinations. T.V. was our first. He was black and white, and stuck by his dear doggie friend Shadow like, well, a Shadow. T.V. taught me that cats could be fun! He chased Shadow around the house, and at night, would groom him as if he were another cat. I don’t know what disease took our noble young man, but I cried my heart out when we lost him.

One cold December day, my parents gave me a long-haired white boy cat for my birthday. I named him Percy, because in my pre-teen brain that hadn’t researched cat breeds, all long-haired cats were Persians. Percival Lancelot loved to sleep at my side every night, and I told him all of my deepest and darkest secrets. In the 80s, in our lower-class neighborhood, none of us knew about the dangers of un-neutered animals. So when our intact boy wanted to roam, we let him roam. There was a time when my boy Percy disappeared. It could have been days, or weeks, but again, I cried, sure that I had lost my one true friend. Percy finally came home, and he was a different cat. His desire to roam was gone, and he stayed close by my side. Now that I’m wiser about cats, I realize that means that Percy encountered something that stuck in his kitty memory and shook him to the core. But back then, I was just happy to have the return of my white knight with the slight streak of orange down the middle of his back. One day, during our long talks, I noticed that Percy wasn’t as attentive as usual. In fact, he was downright sleepy, and a little pale. For a teenager to notice that a white cat was pale was a pretty interesting feat. My parents scraped together enough money to take Percy to the vet and get him checked out, and he never came home. Percy had picked up Feline Leukemia on his travels, and the vet felt the most humane thing to do was send him to the Rainbow Bridge. I never got to say goodbye to my furry friend, and I think my heart shrank two sizes that day. My dad’s did too, because through his tears, he told me that he couldn’t bear to say goodbye to another animal after that, and we were under orders to acquire no more pets for our house. With Percy, I learned the value of vetting pets, and vowed that all my future animals would have “the works” done for them.

After both of my parents died, a former best friend/roommate decided that the ticket to healing my grieving heart was to gift me a cat. Sphinx was a stray that somebody had acquired and decided to get rid of after giving her the worst possible name, and my friend brought her to me without asking. And then my friend moved out without warning. For a time, I resented the kitty offering, and just wanted my parents and best friend back. Time heals all wounds, though, and eventually, I fell in love with Sphinx. Sphinx kept me alive during the darkest winter of my life, and she gave me a reason to get out of bed. I soon discovered her sense of humor late one night when I woke to my mooing cow welcome mat. Around 3am, I heard a cow mooing over and over. It would stop for a few seconds, and then start back up. Shaking like a leaf, and wondering why I moved into such a horrible neighborhood, I quietly tiptoed to my dresser, pulled out my .380 and loaded it. I crept down the hall doing my best imitation of every police show I’d ever watched. I hugged the wall, crossed the doorway to the kitchen, and gripped my gun with determined and shaky hands. There sat Sphinx, staring at my cow mat, and reaching out one delicate paw to get it to moo. We both startled each other at the same time, and I was extremely grateful that I’d forgotten to undo the safety on my gun. Together, Sphinx and I had our ups and downs, and our friendship lasted longer than the one with my former roomate. Sphinx became one of my longest-lived cats until the Melamine Cat Food Recall. We said goodbye to each other on Valentine’s Day 2008, and through my tears, I thanked her for making me want to live through the dark winter of 1993.

I’ve had 4 more cats since Sphinx. Three were a family made up of a momma cat and her two daughters. T.V., our black and white girl was the smartest cat I ever met, and her death from lung cancer on St. Patrick’s Day,2008, broke my husband’s heart as much as it did mine. T.V. gave us the gift of her daughters, Muskrat and Piglet. Muskrat ran away one cold December in 2007, and we never saw her again. She had stayed feral, even though we had known her since kittenhood. We learned from Muskie that some cats need some extra care to get used to humans. And Piglet, the last survivor of her small family, is now 15 years old. She’s the most talkative cat that I’ve ever had, but comes to me in the night with soft paws and sweet purrs to get petted and brushed. Fluffy is our most recent acquisition. He has a fierce love of running water, and Whiskas Temptation’s Savory Seafood Medley. I’m not sure which love is greater, but with Fluffy, I always know where I stand. He’s a quietly dignified goofball with an ability to make even my worst days better.

Every cat in my life has given me a gift, taught me a lesson, helped me, and gifted me with unconditional love. For all those things, today, and every day, I’m grateful to all the cats I’ve loved. ~noelle~

Today, on our one year anniversary, YOUR Imagine Home admins would like to begin a month of daily gratitude. In America, the month of November is generally a month of thanks.

So to start, I want to thank our friends, past and present. Our past friends have taught us many lessons, and we are grateful for all of them. Our current friends have taught us that we still need to stay on our toes! We’re eternally grateful for the loyalty that so many people have shown us, quietly, or vocally.

Some of our super special friends include Becca Marshall Steinberg, who came out of the blue to help launch our website, when we needed her most, Trudy Bledsoe who shares everything we do, sends us encouraging notes, and puts us in our place whenever we need it, Rhonda Alexander who is a huge cheerleader for us and always eager to help, JoAnn Yuhnke who has seen things in us that we couldn’t see in ourselves, Mia Kate who loves us all the way from Australia, Maribel Moure with her “SUPER SPECIAL EXCITING IDEAS,” and so many more that I can’t think of as I type in haste.

Thank you all! May we continue to grow in light and love, together. ~Noelle~