Special

Today, when I woke up, Finley was gone.

This did not cause undue alarm. He'd been gone every day in the mornings; always came back with some sort of breakfast.

What had woken me was my cat.

She was going nuts, you know? Tail twitching like a flag in a hurricane, pawing at my window.

I squinted, not being able to see what was so special about the window, but I couldn't see anything.

Que Finley, coming in with Eggs and orange juice. "Bella's going crazy," I said, nodding at the cat. Finley set down the eggs and handed me the orange juice. I sipped. Pulp. Yuck.

"I don't see anything," he said, walking towards the window. "See something, Bells?" The cat meowed pointedly, tail twitching again.

"Well, she's a little daft--whoa!" exclaimed Finley, suddenly grinning, "there's a frog!"

And there was. Sitting in the bottom of my window with all the pebbles was a tiny frog, trapped. In case you didn't know, my window is like a bowl. My emergency exit if you will.

If he stayed down there, he'd die.

I wouldn't let that happen, so I got out of bed, threw on the first clothes I grabbed--a bright green shirt from JessePallooza and red pants from an old seventies concert--and ran upstairs, Finley lagging behind with my eggs and juice. (He's a stickler for eating.)

I caught the frog, christened him Jinkies, and put him in a bucket. Got him the usual; you know, a twig, a few pieces of bark, some leaves.

And then I took him downstairs, because I have cleaning to do. And I look in the bucket and the frog is... sad.

I know he's sad, sure as I know anything. My God, he hates that bucket.

So I pick up the bucket. It's important, important I do. I walk to the pond and set him down. Crickets are everywhere.

"Good-bye," I said to him, "you are free now."

And then I walked home; trailing my bright blue bucket, watching people on the street laugh at my silly clothes.


Let them laugh. I saved a life.

This was Schultz's status today. 

It's hard to explain to someone who has no clue. It's a daily struggle feeling sick on the inside while you look fine on the outside. Please put this as your status for at least 1 hour if you or someone you know has an invisible illness (Anxiety, Bi-Polar, Depression, Diabetes, LUPUS, Fibromyalgia, Ehlers-Danlos Syndeom, Crohn's, MS, Arthritis, Cancer, Heart Disease, etc.). "Never judge what you don't understand" "

 

Thank you, Schultz.

And Welcome home, Katie!