Niggles aren't always what you think...

I called Altered Tails about the cat and kittens. They advocate TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return). Jennifer was wonderfully helpful. I already knew about the value of keeping the current colony of feral cats. If you remove them, more will come. If you take responsibility of the ones in your area, they will kill rats and roaches. Yes, they also kill birds, but that circle of life thing is really unavoidable. She told me that the kittens have to be at least two pounds (about eight weeks old). I would have to do the trapping and transporting. I would also have to help foot the bill for the surgeries. I'm okay with that. I figure it's an investment in a healthier neighborhood and means I don't have to worry about more kittens anytime soon. I also learned that they clip the left ear to show that the cat has been through the process already. So, if you see a cat with a clipped left ear, you now know it wasn't too horribly traumatic, though a feral cat I'm sure wouldn't be happy about being trapped. I was grateful that Jennifer took the time to talk to me so long, and let me talk myself through everything, to be sure I understood. Plans were made for June. After we hung up, I went out to check on the family. They weren't there. At all. They were gone. Dad and I checked the backyard and the front. No cats. Anywhere. I emailed Jennifer about the mystery. She wrote back exactly what I had been thinking: Maybe she heard us talking about her through the walls.

So, what was the purpose of stressing over what to do, interrupting Jennifer's day, not to mention the time taken out of my work day? I don't know. I may never know. That's the thing about niggles. Sometimes, like the bus trip home, the niggle is clear and understandable. But I'm finding that the vast majority of my niggles seem to have no rhyme or reason. Maybe that's the real reason I don't follow them as much as I could. Because I don't see the reason, I feel silly or putout. Perhaps niggles aren't so much about accomplishing any particular thing, though it does happen, maybe it is much more about training my thoughts and heart to listen more carefully, and to follow through, so that when something really important shows up, I'm already in the habit of listening and doing. Or maybe, there really is a purpose that isn't evident to me and may never be, but I was where I needed to be when I needed to be there, doing what I needed to be doing. Only God knows.