A hundred thousand candles

Sarah:

The thing about cats is that you take them for granted. They drop into your life and then become your life. You get used to them, get used to shaking out the litter tray, get used to tripping over little furry bodies that twist around your ankles just when you’re running for work. You get used to swearing at those irritating fleabags who INSIST on rubbing on your legs and leaving billions of hairs on your lovely new pencil-cut pants.

And then one day they’re not there anymore, and you’re left scrambling to fill a hole.

That’s how some of us felt when Dawn left. You got used to her being around to fulfil anything you weren’t doing.

Right now we’re working to get CWS up and running. It’s not easy. We made the mistake of relying on just one person to take care of all the trouble. One person who would know everything. Now we’re learning to do it ourselves.

I suppose there’s a lesson in all of this. You can’t rely on just one person to solve the problems. You have to do it yourself. You have to have a plan B. It’s like governments – there’s always a Number 2 being trained somewhere.

And there’s a second lesson too – you can’t do it on your own either. Through the last few months, while we worked to adjust, there were hundreds of lovely caregivers and volunteers who looked out for the cats. They kept things going. Each person lit a single candle in the darkness. By itself, it looked small. But the candles weren’t alone, they were surrounded by hundreds of candles. And together, they lit the night, and kept a safe space for the cats.

Now I’m lighting my candle too. I know it won’t be enough if it was just me. But thanks to all the other candles, the future looks a lot brighter for the cats of Singapore.