A little background information is needed for this story.

My grandma, Bea, is 92 years old. She is a good Christian woman. I don’t put that in quotes. She is not preachy or righteous or sanctimonious. She is just herself. She would give you the shirt off her back, and I mean literally, if that is what you need. She is so good that she does not think of herself as being a wonderful, giving person. She is just who she is. She has been on this planet for 92 years and I can see her living 92 more, because this world needs people like her. Good for the sake of being good, not because she thinks she will get something out of it.

Sharon is in her late 60s. She is divorced and her kids are grown. Her mission in life is to save cats. She is tiny in size, but huge in heart and will do whatever it takes to save a cat in need. I know she has broken into at least one house with the sole mission of saving a cat.

Sharon took a walk in late January around her neighborhood. She saw a skinny, neglected cat in a house window. She called a neighbor who told her the house had been vacant since before Christmas. “Dear Lord,” she thought, “That cat has been stuck alone in that house for over a month. What should I do? Send me a sign.”

She told my grandma, who in her innocence and love of animals said, “Sharon, pick up a brick, throw it through the window and save that cat!”

Sharon went by the house the next day, still unsure of what she would do. There was a big, white van and two workmen there. She asked them their business. They were cleaning out the house in preparation for the realtor. Had they seen a cat, she asked. No, they had not, but they had been in every room but the basement. Would they mind if she checked the house? No, they didn’t mind.

Sharon entered the house fearing the worst and knowing the Lord had answered her prayers on how she would access the house. In the basement she found an empty hot dog packaging wrapper and a loaf of bread that was nearly gone. Also, a starving and lonely cat.

She ran back upstairs and told the workmen she’d be right back with a crate and a can of cat food. They said if they left before she got back, they’d leave the door unlocked. When she got back a few minutes later, the workmen were gone. She easily coaxed the cat into the crate with the food.

She took him to Bea’s house and Bea said she thought that cat would never stop drinking water.

Sharon called her friend, also a cat rescuer and also named Sharon (called Sharon 2 for this story). Sharon explained the cat’s plight. Sharon 2 said she knew of a man and his daughter who were looking for a cat. Sharon said this cat would need some love and food, but otherwise seemed healthy.

Sharon 2 called the man and his daughter over to her house. By the time they arrived, the cat was full of food and water and lying contentedly on the couch. Sharon told the man and his daughter that they could adopt the cat but with one stipulation.

“His name is Miracle.”

This is a completely true story. All the names are real. No details have been changed.

What would possess someone to leave cat locked up in a house with only hot dogs and bread to eat? What possesses people to leave pets at all? What if Sharon had not intervened? The Pedigree commercials with David Duchonvy voice overs bring me to tears. “This dog’s owner got a new apartment… And dogs aren’t allowed.” Pan camera to dog in cage at shelter. Michael and I want to move. The apartment complex we wanted to move to had a height and weight limit. Bijou didn’t fit the limit. We didn’t move.

People treat animals like they are disposable. They are not. They are part of your life, they are part of your family. We are placed on this earth to take care of animals.

Miracle is one of the very few to have a chance at a better life. What are you doing to give animals in need a chance at a better life?