I Need to be Seen

An Encounter with a Stranger Brings Me Hope

        

 

  Already a day filled with goodness (I submitted my second book for approval to be published), fears (would my daughter be all right after the evening before had sent her into an adrenal gland crisis due to the stress in our household), hope (as her new PT healed her with his gentle spirit, intuitive insight and skill) and a sadness that kept my eyes on the brink of stinging tears (from a very fragile relationship).

      This is a post about the last item. It is a piece that shares the extreme power of being “seen” by someone previously unknown and who extended themselves to our sweet kitty and me. I was at the Vet’s office. They squeezed us in (they are always so kind there, and their love for animals is everywhere) to express our kitty’s anal glands. (Oops-hope you weren’t eating anything. I probably should have warned you of the impending “Eww” factor)

     I sat in a chair with our kitty in her carrier next to me. She cried the most woeful sounds, and I kept talking to her to keep myself together. Two seats down from us sat a woman about my age, with a beautiful black and white kitty, in a soft carrier, but with carrier top open and the cat looking oh so “chill.” I felt jealous…I wished I had the power to calm my cat as she did hers so my furry baby wouldn’t feel so stressed.

     Then, she said, “Oh, my, those cries make me want to cry. It must be hard on you too.” I looked up, and the way she looked into my eyes, hers crested with tears of empathy, broke my jealousy into gratefulness for her “seeing me.”

     We began to chat, and we had so much in common, not the least of which was the empathic love for our cats and our daughters. Hers is 29 and mine 21, almost 22. We spoke of our deep connection to our daughters that so many other people mock and label as “helicopter parenting.” We conversed about our kitties and that hers was blind and was not visually upset because he was busy smelling, listening, and trying to figure out the new surroundings.

      She will never know how her reaching out to me, speaking with me, and sharing our deepest love for our children and our kitties strengthened me when I felt so weak and hopeless.

     Perhaps, because she too was empathic, she did know, and that’s why she reached out to me. She was called to come back to the exam room shortly after we began talking, and I thanked her for talking with me and told her how she had truly helped my heart and that of my kitty.

     I need to be “seen.” And today, I will extend myself to others with kindness so that perhaps I can return the favor of love of humanity and empathy towards others in pain.

     Thank you, beautiful soul, at the Vets. I hope that wherever you are, you run across this post and know it was you.