Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord;
Thou sendest blessings from above
Thru words and deeds of those who love.
When such a friend from us departs,
We hold forever in our hearts
A sweet and hallowed memory,
Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee.
("Each Life That Touches Ours For Good," by Karen Lynn Davidson)
Marty was small, but he had a big heart. I know, you've heard that before, right? But here's the thing -- Marty was small, even for his only being five weeks old he was small. But when you looked in those eyes, you saw the potential for the hugeness of his heart.
Here -- try it for yourself. Look in those eyes and tell me you don't see great things.
Isn't he cute? And teeny? That's my hand holding him, and I have small hands.
Marty came to us via the Burbank Animal Shelter kitten foster program. Cim's a foster parent there, and with two of her own cats, and a foster that thinks she owns the joint, taking on two baby kittens seemed like a lot, especially when one of the new kittens picked on Marty incessantly. We decided to give him (and Cim) and break and invited him over to our house.
He was already a little bit sick, but what kitten wouldn't be, when torn from his mama at such an early age? We did the best we could as surrogate mothers. We fed him, bathed him, made sure he knew how to use the litter box, and above all, made sure to let him know how much we loved him.
Unfortunately, the amount of love you get can't always take care of every problem, especially when there are unseen and undetected internal ones.
Little Marty passed away on August 16 in the early morning hours. He didn't leave without a fight, but he left because his body just wasn't big enough to handle what the world had thrown at him in such a short amount of time.
Regardless of his short time here, I have no doubt that he did what he came here to do: open our hearts a little bit more to loving and being loved in turn, and teaching compassion as only a sweet little kitten can.
I have no doubt that he is happily running around in heaven with all the other kitties, especially my Siren, and free of earthly pain, can now begin enjoying his life as a kitten.
God speed, Marty. See you soon.
