A wonderful example of courage lives with me every day in the shape of a very small kitten. She's actually full grown, but at 2 1/2 years old still has the zest for life of any youngster. Her story began at 3 months old when an infection destroyed one eye, robbed her of hearing in one ear and partially paralyzed one side of her face.

As she was one of the wild cats that liked to invite everyone over to my house to eat, I just doctored her some and left nature to take its' course. Every day I brought her in the house and gave her some antibiotics and salved the eye socket, then put her back out telling her it was time to "chuck her back out." Soon the name "Chuck" stuck on her.......and she was starting to look somewhat better. That being rather relative as she was one of the smallest runts I had ever encountered.

Then an urge to explore overcame her and she climbed through the fence into the neighbor's yard....only to be caught by a dog and mauled pretty badly. Now with several very deep puncture wounds mostly in her stomach, I didn't give her any chance of surviving. But survive she did........by then Chuck was in the house......and when she was still alive a few days later, it dawned on me the total courage this small little being possessed.

Nearly all of her long hair fell out as a result of such sustained trauma and looked very much like a chemo patient. When it did grow back, it came in gray which now makes her a 6-colored calico.

Fast forward 2 years to the lively, incredibly smart (not always a good thing in a cat), wondrously inventive, teasing, gentle creature that entertains me constantly.

Courage is sometimes just surviving until tomorrow, sometimes it's believing in yourself in whatever you choose to do. I wish that for all of you.

Keep Coloring Outside the Lines,
Sandra