It breaks my heart that I can’t save all the cats and dogs who need homes, but it’s just a simple fact that I have no more room for additional animals. Tommy is one of the outdoor strays who I really want to find a home for, though. With cold weather coming up, I’d really like to find a home for him before winter gets here.
I don’t know where Tommy came from, but he’s been in the neighborhood for a couple of years. He was among a group of strays who a former neighbor got fixed and got shots for. She and her husband used to feed them, but they already had seven indoor cats of their own, so they couldn’t take anymore, either.
After they moved away a few months ago, I took over feeding several of them, including Tommy. (The former neighbor felt so bad about leaving them that she still brings food for me to feed them.) He’s just now getting to the point that he’ll trust me to touch him and pick him up every now and then, so he’s going to need patient humans in his new home. He’s never had consistent love and attention.

Why do we paint ourselves into joyless corners with no way out?
Loss of everything you value can be a new beginning, not the end
Our self-deception is attempt to justify whatever we do to others
We can see injustices of the past, but still honor men who achieved
Homeless man on a cold night leaves me with hard questions
I don’t regret my choices, but I do lament choices he refused to make
What’s the use of love if the one who you love doesn’t need you?
My bad teen poetry suggests I’ve always hungered for missing love