I'm Jessica

Shawn and I went on a road trip for our 10th Anniversary. This was from our first night, Sunday, August 5th, 2018. I posted this on Facebook while we were on the road:

Night one of our trip was quite something. We had a long day of driving and tourist-ing (I know it's not a word, let me be). We were so close to our hotel, but I hadn't packed ibuprofen and also had developed sinus congestion so we had to stop at the gas station next to the hotel. There wasn't another option close by. I had to pee and I knew I wasn't making it to the hotel.

Seeing as it was me heading to a public restroom, something odd happening was not unlikely. I'm all about in and out as fast as possible in a public bathroom. I could hear stuff happening from the stall next to and I tried even harder to pee and flee. Then, I hear talking. In the age of cellphones, I assumed I was not part of this. Wrong. "I don't know who is in here right now, but I want someone to know my name. I'm Jessica" said the voice from the stall. In my anxiety-induced-socially-awkward state, I said, "Um. Okay." Washed my hands and left.

I told Shawn about it and that I didn't know what to do. I decided to tell the attendant. He said that he'd check in and that the graveyard shift see a lot of things.

We get to the hotel and check-in. Shawn heads back to park the car which had been sitting by the main entrance while we unloaded. It took him awhile to come back. I came to the lobby to get ice and saw Shawn standing by a window. He is talking to someone who was crying. I went back to the room.

Shawn came to the room. I asked him who he was talking to and he said it turned out to be Jessica...gas station bathroom Jessica. He was going to take her to Walmart, which was a good 10 minutes or so away, and wanted me to come for various reasons. She was a mess. Quite possibly a drugged out mess, but a mess just the same. He had given her our leftover pizza. She was so hungry. He gave her the cash that he happened to have. The trip to Walmart was to put the cash on her debit card in order to use an app that would get her a bus back to where she needed to be. When we dropped off, I gave her the fruit we had and a small package of Kleenex. She confessed to us that she did steal the energy drink from the gas station and knew it was wrong.

There were several "Sirs" and "Ma'ams". Some were with "Thank yous" and some were with "Yeses" or "Nos" in response to questions or instructions.

In the end, like the lost duckling we found about a month ago, we found a place for her to go and all we can do is hope for the best outcome of safety and being reunited with her friends and family.

Shawn is loving and compassionate and will go out of his way to help someone/thing in need and I am lucky to have him as my husband.

Abby Cat

From a Facebook post on Monday, August 6th, 2018:

I have posted pictures of the Queen Bee, Office Diva, Abby. The 16-year-old seal point who ran the show. She assigned you paperwork when she felt like getting up from atop it. She’d take it upon herself to make attempts at rebooting or reprogramming or just typing some kind of mess on your laptop. I swear she came very close to changing my passwords at times. She also enjoyed licking condensation from my giant, ice filled, water jug.

She was particular about her surroundings, her diet, her water bowl, and her people. Morgan was her person, no one could compare. She was so connected to Morgan that she shared her ringworm with her TWICE! The rest of the office was second tier for sure. Some of us aren’t cat people. I mean, we’ll rescue them, but we don’t have them as pets. But with Abby’s 4 months with us we didn’t really become cat people, but we did become Abby people.

Friday morning was probably the most difficult time I’ve had since joining Life Is Better. Abby, who had been through ringworm and food strikes had been diagnosed with renal failure earlier in the week. It was decided that, at 16, it was best to let her go. So, I drove specifically to see her one last time. I’m glad I was there and I’m glad I was with Abby’s #1 and the rest of the 2nd tier crew as we watched her slowly leave us.

#queenabby #proudtobeanabbyperson #adoptdontshop#rescuedismyfavoritebreed #thatrescuelife 

Abby on  a pile of paperwork as she ponders assigning it to me.

Attempting to reboot and then change passwords.

Thirsty kitty is thirsty.

The thirst is real.