Robert and I love our pets. We have three dogs: Gypsy our hound, Shadow our 110 pound Mastiff mix and Ginger who is Michele’s dog and a Heinz 57. All of our pets are rescue animals. Last January our orange Tom Cat Geechie died.

Since Robert and I married twelve years ago we have always had a cat. In fact it was his cat Cyrus and my dog Lucy who approved of us. Cyrus didn’t like anyone and he liked me and I was not even a cat person. Lucy was a campus dog and loved everyone but was very protective me. She thought Robert belonged to her.

I trust the instincts of our pets. One time I had a very friendly shop dog save me from harm. His name was Ranger. One morning a hitchhiker came into my country store and every hair stood up on this black lab’s back. Ranger stayed between that man and me. I looked at him and said I don’t know what you have planned but this dog is about to take your throat out.  He walked out the door and the dog stayed right with him and would not allow him close to the store again.

We missed having a cat in our home. I have never even been around kittens. A few days ago we went to visit our friend the CatMan. He has a no kill shelter. We found two precious little kittens. Robert interviewed the kittens to see which ones want to come home with us. He found a frisky white male kitten who had an orange tail and ears. This is the one that wanted to go home with him. I tried doing the interview process but that just didn’t work for me. Mr. Sims told me a story of a little gray tabby female who was the lone survivor of her litter. The litter had been dumped in a field and all but this little kitty had been eaten by a hawk. This kitten had survived by being cautious and hiding under a porch.

She was a survivor. She needed a mommy and that was all I needed to know. I could not take my hands or eyes off if her. Even when she wanted back in her cage, I would keep reaching back in to get her. She just needed to know that someone loved her and I was going to show her that she was loveable. Does this sound familiar?

We brought the kittens home and made a place for them in Robert’s office. We had to allow our dogs to get used to the smell of our new pets. On Saturday we exiled the dogs to the back yard and allowed the kittens to run free in our upstairs. The little gray female still hid. I pulled her out from under the couch and put her in a sunbeam on the window sill we had built for Geechie. She laid there for an hour enjoying the cat shelf. Then I put her beside me in the chair and she snuggled with me the rest of the day.

Today was a brand new day. We brought them upstairs and they began to have rolling kitty fights and express their personalities for the first time. The white kitten is still playful and the gray kitten is still cautious, but their true self is gradually showing through.

Sometime we hide behind masks of happy-go-lucky controlling faces and other times we hunker down and hide from the world. Each mask disguises us from who we really are. This is why I teach you to love yourself and it all starts with me loving you and showing you that you are loveable. Are you ready to FLY? Let me love you into giving FlyLady a chance.

For more help getting rid of your CHAOS; check out her website and join her free life coaching at  www.FlyLady.net , listen to her channel http://www.blogtalkradio.com/channels/flylady show or read her books, Sink Reflections published by Bantam and her New York Times Best Selling book, Body Clutter published by Fireside. Copyright 2008 Marla Cilley Used by permission in this publication.