How a Visit to the Post Office Can Change Your Perspective on Life

Today I swung by the post office during my lunch break. An older gentleman with what looked like an oxygen tank was working his way down the sidewalk.

Normally I would patiently wait behind him, but today I tried to scoot around him & ended up startling the poor man. I apologized and started to head for my car. He said, "Miss?" and I turned around. He said "Do you know what women and days have in common?" then responded "Just like days, some women are more beautiful than others." I couldn't help but smile at that. He said, "It makes every day worth it when you can make someone smile." I smiled again and agreed with him, telling him to have a nice day as I headed for my car.

As I headed to my appointment that I was running late for, I couldn't help but think about that man. About how I have lately been having such a hard time with life and I've been bouncing from one thing to another just trying to survive another day. I've been spending all my time worrying about school, work, money, sleep, and family. And here is this man who is connected to an oxygen tank and probably struggles just to get out to visit the post office because of his health issues. Yet for all his troubles, he goes out of his way to make someone smile.

While my struggles are many not insignificant, this one moment really put things in perspective for me. And I'm sure he'd be happy to know I was sharing this with the Internet.

Carnival of the Cats #349

We begin with the sad news of a loss within our ranks. Pepper suddenly passed on October 29th.

Daddy adopted Pepper a few years before he met Momma. Pepper had been rescued from a home due to neglect, but Daddy helped nurse her back to health. Her and Daddy stuck together through some hard times until they met Momma. She officially became an attack cat in April of 2006.

Pepper was a quiet sweet cat that (usually) didn't get along with the other cats. She was very skittish and would usually come up for pettings and snuggles late at night when it was quiet. She loved to put her paw on Momma's face when snuggling, and was happiest when she was kneading on Momma or Daddy. She'd had a number of health problems develop, including the heart murmur, hypothyroidism, back pain, and a potassium deficiency. She was probably about 8 or 9 years old when she passed due to her heart murmur.

While we miss her greatly, we are thankful she went quickly and peacefully and is finally pain-free. Momma is happy she got to see her and pet her one last time that day before she went to the Bridge. We know we will see her again.

We'd like to dedicate this carnival to her memory:

One of the cat owner rules is that everything must be covered in cat hair. Hakuna from Lost in the Cheese Aisle makes sure her family doesn't break the rules by relaxing (and shedding) onto a sunroom chair.

Over at My Cats and Funny Stories, Arthur grumbles about the rainy weather and the indignity of being dried off by his human.

Cokie the Cat is hosting a purrfect giveaway featuring a gorgeous ornament and refrigerator magnet starring Cokie himself!

Dirty-boy Meowza sneaks in some dirt rolling and dreams of turkey at both Mind of Mog and his own site, iMeowza, just in time for Caturday.

Uh oh! Over at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat, Elvira seems to be so concerned about her figure that she's comparing herself to a Thanksgiving turkey!

Also at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat, Nikita and Elvira are busy helping their Daddy learn how to make fliers...featuring themselves, of course!

Nikita also shows off his bravery by fending off a foot intruder and protecting his family. In our opinion, you definitely deserve a medal!

At Strangeranger, Maddie enjoys some puddles of sunshine and her human gets an opportunity to capture a photo of her lovely green eyes. How beautiful!

Thanks everyone for giving us the opportunity to host and to share. The next carnival will be at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.