Dreams DO come true!

A few months ago our sweet Emma threw a coin in a "wishing fountain" and wished for a kitty of her own. (We were at the zoo, and she had just seen all those "darling nice kitties!" Grown up translation: wild and ferocious felines.) Immediately after she threw in that penny, she asked me, "When is my wish going to come true?" I gave her the typical mom answer: "I don't know, Sweetie. We'll just have to see." (I said this, of course, with no intention AT ALL of playing any part in making her wish come true.) But Emma is one of those children who never forgets a wish or a promise to do something ("Mom, you PROMISED you would buy me a Barbie!!!") (???) and she kept asking days and even weeks later when her kitty was going to come. I was actually beginning to feel bad for her, since she would get so disappointed when I would have to tell her there was still no kitty. =(

It was about a month later that I had finished my morning run when a little orange kitty with bright blue eyes wandered into our yard and over to me. It stayed near me all morning as I worked a bit in the yard and hung around even after I had gone inside for a bit. I was back outside with the kitty when Emma woke up and wandered out to find me. She saw one look at the little kitty and her eyes grew three sizes. "It's my kitty I wished for!!!! It came!!!!" As a mother, what could I say to that? She had wished and prayed for this kitty, and who was I to tell her that we couldn't keep it or that wishes don't really come true. I couldn't do it. So I let her and her siblings play with it all morning as I worked in the yard. I realized when she named the kitty Flower that I should probably hop on my bike and go get some kitty food, and pronto. It was a done deal. This kitty was going to be hers. Wishes really do come true to my 4 year old.

It was about then, in the middle of all this bliss and merriment, that 2 little neighbor boys walked by, saw Emma holding her new kitty that she had wished for, and exclaimed, "Hey! There's my kitty that I have been looking for! It ran away last week!" Then he walked right up to Emma, snatched it right out of her arms and walked away and left her standing there.

(Long pause for dramatic effect...)

I probably don't need to tell you the weeping and wailing that followed this event. It actually broke my heart. All 5 of my kids were crying, and I had to do serious damage control with each one of them. I talked to both the little boy and his mom, just to make sure it really was their kitty. Sadly... It was. So now what was I to do? How was I supposed to tell Emma that her kitty really wasn't hers and that it wasn't the kitty she wished for? I couldn't do it.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I called my neighbor Jen who I knew had kittens, told her what had happened, and asked (begged) her for one of them. She didn't have a pumpkin colored one, like "the one I wished for" (said Emma) but she did have a little black one. So.... Here he is.

This is Kitty. The newest member of the family. We've had him about a month and he is such a sweet kitty. He loves to play in the yard, loves the kids, loves to pounce on balls that we throw, and loves to be cuddled and be held. (Emma was sad to learn that he was a "boy" so asked if we could pretend that it was a girl kitty.) We just call him "Kitty" since Emma changes his name every day. It has been Raspberry, Flower, Princess, Sandi, Lu Lu, and Sparkle and a bunch of others. She still says that the neighbor boy (whose name shall remain anonymous) "stole my kitty I wished for," but she loves this kitty just as much.

So the moral of the story for Emma is that wishes really do come true, and prayers are answered. And kitties haphazardly just wander into your yard because you made a wish.

The moral of the story for me: Stay away from the wishing fountain at the zoo. (On our second trip this summer she was upset with me for not letting her throw a penny and wish for a BUNNY this time...)

This is what Cam was doing as we took pictures with the kitty. It was what I had wished for all day!!!

"Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet."
~Colette