I don’t usually take photos inside the farmhouse – I do not share all of my life – but I saw this portrait of love last night, and took the photo, and with Maria’s permission, put it up this morning, it says so much more than words can say. As I write this, Minnie is out in the barn, making a lot of noise, prowling around cautiously on her three legs. We will bring her back inside for the rest of the day and night in a couple of hours, she gets exhausted out there. In the evening, Maria and Minnie sit on the sofa together while Maria reads and when I came out of my study last night, they were both asleep, I was so touched by this image of love and life.

This is Minnie’s time. She was a feral kitten when I adopted her six years ago, a sweet but odd and social barn cat, she always loved hanging out with the rooster and the chickens. I will ever forget the last days of Winston, my first rooster, Minnie sat by his side as he lay dying in a crate for three days and never left him. I never really connected with Minnie, she was overwhelmed by the much stronger animal personalities around her – Mother, my devoted but ferocious killer barn cat, Elvis the steer, Rose, Orson, Izzy, Lenore, then Simon and the donkeys.

Maria always championed Minnie, who was always trying to get me to pay attention to her, she always nudged me to stop and hang around with Minnie, I was usually too busy.

Minnie is not a demanding creature, she always hovered in the background, eager for some attention, rarely getting any. How ironic that it would take losing a leg to some unseen animal for her to find her place in the Bedlam Farm animal lexicon. She is not overshadowed now, she has an international following, gets letters every day in my Post Office Box (P.O. Box 205, Cambridge,  NY., 12816) and has the full attention of both me and Maria.

As I finally pay more attention to Minnie – there is not much choice – I am appreciating her. Minnie quite verbal, she says a lot. Minnie is very affectionate, she loves to curl up and be still. Minnie is a determined creature, from the moment she woke up from surgery she has been fighting to get back to her life, and she will have it, but she and I have bonded and our relationship is different now, we have been to the woodshed together. A friend joked that once you decide to spend $2,000 to save a barn cat, you will surely pay more attention. I suppose there is truth to that.

I am learning much from this experience. We all have our time, I suppose. I am reinforced in my belief to trust my own instincts about animals. We took Minnie off of the pain killers right away and she began to heal. We let her back to her life as soon as we could, and she healed even more quickly. We rejected the notion that she must now give up her barn cat life and be an inside cat, she does not have to do that, even though there are risks. Minnie wants to be free. Minnie wants to be loved. And as this photograph shows so vividly, there is nothing that heals more than love. This photo is a portrait of life, I was lucky enough to find one of the most loving people in the world and she foolishly agreed to marry me.

Animals need love. Love heals.