This is an article about an article. The article that I refer to is entitled “How a Kitten Eased My Partner’s Depression”. The star of that article, written beautifully by Hannah Louise Poston, is a kitten. The star of this article is Hannah herself. Not only did she have the courage of her convictions to adopt a kitten from the local Humane Society without telling her depressed partner, Joe, she also stood by him, loving him through his grey fogs and difficult mornings. Joe is obviously a good guy and he deserves to have a good woman like Hannah but she did something special when she decided to adopt a kitten because it turned around Joe’s life.
Joe was clearly struggling with life because of his depression. The start of each day appears to have been difficult. He would drag himself out of bed “engulfed in a fog”. Hannah would have liked it otherwise: a cheery good morning would have helped.
Hannah and Joe seem to live on a farm of sorts. They had an infestation of rodents. This prompted Hannah to confidently declare to Joe one morning “We need a kitten”. She would make the same announcement nearly every morning after she had collected the eggs from the chicken coop.
Joe resisted. In a common sense way he’d remark “Have you thought about why you want a kitten?” He certainly was resisting adopting a kitten. “It just seems like it will take a lot of energy,” he said. He was looking for reasons why Hannah should not adopt. He was entrenched in his ways as most of us are. Sometimes people who are entrenched in their ways need to be yanked out of the trench.
Hannah took it upon herself to go out on a limb and help herself rather than her depressed man. She decided to help herself to a kitten. I wonder whether in the back of her mind she had decided that she was also helping Joe. I don’t think adopting a kitten was entirely a selfish pursuit. She’s a smart woman. She knows that animals can help ease black moods. And I don’t think adopting a kitten was all about dealing with the rodents. There is more at play than just that. Perhaps it was instinctive. Perhaps Hannah thought, almost subconsciously, that injecting a companion animal into the household would change the mood for the better.
Having adopted the kitten, when Joe arrived home in the evening, Hannah prepared to argue her case. She was awaiting a contretemps which never arrived.
It looks as though it was more or less love at first sight between Joe and Sadie, the new ratter of the house. I think he was converted quickly. The morning after the day of the adoption the first thing that he said when he woke up was “Where’s the kitten?” How about that for a turnaround? Not soon after he asked the question, Sadie clawed her way joyously all over him. His mood had lifted. He had the motivation to tackle his depression. He gave up smoking and commenced taking an antidepressant recommended buy his therapist.
Joe eagerly participated in Sadie’s successful hunting. When Sadie brought live prey back into the house Joe would help dispatch it. Yes, there was live prey scuttling around the bedroom and Hannah contentedly accepted it all with, I suspect, a bit of joy in her heart.
Four years later Joe wakes up and gives Hannah a peck on the cheek and even a snuggle on occasions. That early morning fog appears to have lifted. There are bad days but Sadie will turn them into better days.
Sadie also acts as a kind of “marriage counsellor” (I’m not sure whether Joe and Hannah are married but). Hannah says that on the days that they won’t even touch each other they will still touch Sadie. Sadie is acting as a kind of bridge between the two. The power of an animal; a tiny animal who has the charm of nature, who does not judge but appreciates, who behaves naturally and reminds us where we come from: nature.
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Read the beautifully written article I refer to here.
