I could go really far back to my family’s first immigrants to this country in the 1700’s, that started the line of Americans who would eventually produce my parents, who chose to procreate, so that I exist and am here writing this little piece. That’s stretching it though and would turn into a book instead of an article. And let’s face it, unless you’re related to royalty or a serial killer, no one’s interested!

I’ll start when my younger sister decided to move her family to Carroll County, MD and not long after, persuaded me to move to the county as well. An exuberant, social woman who enjoys people with the natural ease and pleasure I normally reserve for cats, my (happily married) sister met a man at a party and decided he was PERFECT for me. He was a friend of a relative of the neighbor who was hosting the party …. She put us in touch (email). We exchanged sporadic emails for about a year before finally deciding to do something really radical, like actually meet in person. Ah, romance in the electronic age…

So boy meets girl; boy and girl develop offbeat relationship (no other kind in my world); boy eventually meets new girl; boy ends relationship to embark upon new. Nothing unusual or overly dramatic here – happens all the time. Except – dumped girl (me) remains platonic friends with ex-boy. Hey, I’m one helluva great ex-girlfriend!

Naturally, it’s not QUITE that simplistic, but this isn’t the Oprah show and I’m not here to discuss ancient romance – or whatever. The new First Lady in his life was also a cat lover. When a mama cat and her newly born kittens appeared in her yard and she began caring for them, my ex contacted me about finding homes for the kittens (initially, did I want a kit or four?) I did NOT. At the time I had a geriatric 18-year-old cat in kidney failure and I didn’t even need to ask her to know she would not appreciate even ONE energetic kitten bouncing off her and the walls.

Nevertheless, I took some time and searched the internet for local no-kill shelters and adoption agencies that might be able to help. I stumbled upon Howard County Cat Club, a non-profit, no-kill rescue/adoption agency with a small shelter located within 15 minutes of my home. I noticed their website posted a request for volunteers. As a fairly recent dump-ee, my weekends were a little too free for comfort – so I wrote to see if they could use some weekend help. Back then, I was still doing administrative office work – New Age Cat Care (my pet sitting business) was still a dream unborn.

At the time, I was surprised at the fast response. In my current volunteer position as Vice President, Volunteer Coordinator, and Shelter Manager of HCCC – I totally understand. I, too, waste no time contacting interested potential volunteers and bringing them on board!

HCCC’s Sunday volunteer had just resigned when she became pregnant and Sundays were open. At the time, I worked a normal Monday through Friday job, so this was a purrfect fit for me. My world was to be forever changed from that day, about six and a half years ago, that I signed on to take care of the shelter cats every Sunday. From a two to three hour volunteer position one day a week, I now spend about 10-20 hours a week on rescue business, in addition to my own pet sitting work. Some is hands-on, some is administrative (phone calls, emails, scheduling volunteers; re-scheduling; re-scheduling the reschedules, training new volunteers … and more details than you’d be interested in unless you want my job).

Somewhere along the line I lost my autonomy as a single, low profile volunteer, as I was drawn deeper into the world of cat rescue. Over time, I branched out from helping our tame cats who needed re-homing, to helping with ferals, to “inheriting” two feral colonies of my own to care for. Over the years, five of Howard County Cat Club’s rescues found their way into my home to form The Fab Five. The handsome boy pictured throughout this article is Mr. Lucky – a Maine Coon who was the first of my rescues to join my family – the patriarch of The Fab Five.

Helping with the rescue cats convinced me a career working with animals was right for me and I finally got up the nerve to leave my nice, safe, but unfulfilling corporate job despite the stability and many benefits I’d be losing (this was way pre-recession!) and start my own pet sitting business. Any regrets? Nope - though paid sick leave and vacation and holidays - now ancient history – were sure nice…

Through HCCC’s president, Missy, I met Catnip Chronicles' own Kent Butler on-line – and over time THAT led to the creation of “The Fab Five Felines” and “Cats as Art” columns!

In the years since I fell down Alice’s rabbit hole, so to speak, I’ve witnessed miracles and disasters, births and deaths, pain and healing. I’ve felt deep sadness and great happiness – frustration and contentment. I’ve met a lot of fascinating, interesting people – many awesome loving animal people; some even great in who they are and what they do – and more than anyone’s fair share of total jerks. I’ve learned more about feline illnesses, causes, and treatments than your average pet owner. I’ve made mistakes, and learned to trust my instincts and intuition more than ever before. I have LIVED these past six-and-a-half years more fully than ever before.

And it all began because “Mr. Perfect” – wasn’t. And because I’m an awesome ex-girlfriend *smiles*!

Visit The Fab Five and diana at http://www.geocities.com/newagecatcare. diana is a pet sitter in Carroll County, MD; Vice President of the Howard County Cat Club, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, no-kill cat rescue/adoption agency http://www.howardcountycatclub.org; freelance pet photographer, and Catnip Chronicles columnist and consultant.