Animal rescue.

I am currently in training to volunteer at a local animal shelter-type place which shall remain nameless so that I don't get dooced from my volunteer job before I start it. The training is pretty intense, and it always includes a tour of all the rooms where animals are held... Probably because the place is a maze and they want to get us familiar with the layout so we don't end up in a corner, lost for days, like that stupid home improvement store commerical.

Each time I think, I am not sure I can do this. The kittens are adorable, the young cats are precious and the older cats are such divas ("yeah whatever I'll glance your way now and then, adopt me if you absolutely must") that I can't stand it. I WANT TO TAKE THEM ALL HOME IMMEDIATELY. Even the dogs are cute, and how often do you hear me say that?

But then we get to the room that holds the cats who are pending pickup because someone thought they were the cutest, the smartest, the most adoptable... and it all makes sense. And I realize I can do this and it will be doing a lot of good for good animals and good people. And I will get to help them find each other.

It actually puts a lot of things about my job into perspective, and I've been able to appreciate the happy moments long after they occur, and let the bad moments go, or just laugh them off. That's pretty huge.

It doesn't surpress the urge to want to take them all home immediately, of course. That's why I'm a card carrying member of the


Not really. But are you scared that such a thing exists? You should be.