Happy Birthday!!

Many (many) years ago, there was a little girl who volunteered at the Chapel Hill Animal Shelter. She was a wee one, only 11 years old. They told her she couldn’t volunteer there because they had a rule that the volunteers had to be at least 14 years of age. But that little girl was willful, determined and stubborn.

She showed up nearly every day after school. She showed up when they opened the shelter on Saturday. And she was there when they opened the shelter on Sunday. And she did this for years.

This wee one was the person who saved me. I was a very sick kitten. She nursed me daily. I was the first one she attended to on her chores around the shelter and I was the last one she checked on before they locked the door behind her.

Staying in a shelter when you’re sick is a death sentence when there are 75 other cats all healthy, and eager to please the next human they saw. I had no strength. I was barely hanging on. It was through her love and care that I am able to be here today…wreaking havoc on the rodents in Uruguay.

Today she is 22 years old and while she is not yet here with us, we look forward to her visits and potential eventual move to South America.

Keep entertaining the world with your music, your dance, your stories, your pictures, and most definitely keep smiling. The world is a better place...Happy Birthday, Punky Poo (mini-Female Handler)

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