Tomorrow Blaze goes to a new home where she won't be pestered by our other cats.

I am not looking forward to tomorrow at all. For it is then that my favorite cat out of the 14 we currently have will go to a new home.

We happened to take our grand daughter Emma, two at the time, to the playground at a nearby school so she could run wild and have fun one fine day four years ago.

When we got to the swings and sliding boards we could see small children playing with something. They were sliding kittens down the slide and setting them in swings only to fly off and crash on impact with the ground. We were horrified. The kittens didn't even have their little eyes open yet.

Needless to say, we took the kittens from them and said that we were taking them to a shelter. The shelter told us that they were too young and to bring them back in about two months so that they could be adopted out, so we added them to the herd of helpless, hopeless cats that we had already rescued and began to love them too.

Now, they are four years old and we have rescued many more hungry, scared, sick and lonely cats since that day, spaying and neutering all of them. But we have reached a point where we have so many that some are no longer happy here. It's the male domineering thing, the "I'm bigger than you and I will intimidate you every chance I get" thing.

And poor Blaze, she just wants to sleep, play, eat and be loved. Not much to ask if you ask me. But others won't let her, others that need a loving home too. You see that's what we chose to do, rescue these loving little creatures from God and give them something they want so deperately, someone to pet them, feed them and someone they can lay down beside and fall asleep next to feeling all secure and happy.

Blaze is my favorite of all of them you know, she likes to sleep near me and with her paws she makes a tiny little nipple out of a blanket and she falls asleep suckling on that faux nipple, purring and happy. From the moment we found her and her brother Smokey neither one has ever meowed either, evidently they just can't, because when they try it is just a silent cry.

Cats are so funny and they give us so much joy. I think that what I like so much about them is that, although fickle for sure, they just want someone to care for them and show them that they are loved. They can't go buy a cheeseburger when hunger pangs hit, nor can they diagnose sickness when they just ate a gekko and don't understand why they don't feel well. If we could all just be so happy with so little.

Tomorrow we give Blaze to a new home, one we are sure she will enjoy and we know that she will be loved. Of course it's my favorite cat that someone has offered to take. I guess the fact that she is special is obvious to all who look.

Letting go is harder than some might think, but giving her a chance to enjoy the rest of her life without being intimidated and pestered by the others cats that we have is another gift from God. I miss her already and she isn't going away until tomorrow. I hope she understands that our love for her means letting go.

I know what you're thinking and you are right, in the scope of things this is no big deal, I could be losing a brother or other family member, and you are right. But I'm not, and they have become family, and what the heck, if we can find homes for a few more of them maybe we can actually go on a vacation. With this many pets a vacation is out of the question, we can't impose on others to assist with our herd. In the interest of love you learn to shrug it off just like doing seven litter boxes twice a day. It sure beats feeling lonely, a feeling we cannot remember having.