This I Believe

My essay is titled “The Power of Love for an Animal.”

I was the 3rd child of six children. I was in the middle. I did not really feel like I belonged. I couldn’t find my place in the scheme of my siblings. Of course, I acted like I felt comfortable with my older siblings and my younger ones. I believe my mother sensed my predicament, but she never said anything. I would sometimes catch her looking at me with a smile, but a sadness in her eyes. You see, my mother held the same position in her family that I held in mine.

Well, as I got older the more detached from my siblings I became. Sometimes I wanted to be younger and sometimes I wanted to be older. I felt like I was always alone. There was a sadness that seemed to follow me until one day, when I was about 8 years old, my life changed forever.

One day when I was on the back porch, feeling sorry for myself, my mother placed a box beside me and kissed my forehead. she turned and walked back into the house. I heard a sound come from the box. When I

looked down into the box, there was a little black kitten. I named her “Special.”

Special became my best friend. I never felt alone again. The few times that I did feel sad,all I had to do was rub Special and I would feel good all over.

My mother knew how I felt and she knew what to do for me because she had been where I was in life then. The power of the love that I felt for and from Special changed my life.

Although Special has been in heaven for a long time, I have continued to be a llifetime pet owner.