Coconuts

When my kids were younger we had this cat - Coconuts. He was a wild stray that was hanging around our house, scrounging through our garbage, peeing on our house (that's what un-neutered males do - male cats, that is). So I trapped him, sent him to the vet, had him neutered, and released him back in our neighborhood. I left food out for him everyday, and during the winter, we made an outdoor hut for him on our front porch. It took three seasons before we could approach Coconuts (named before he was neutered - sorry, it's the truth). When he finally let us pet him, we coaxed him into our house. He found it to be lovely and decided he would stay. He was a good pet. He purred loudly, never scratched the furniture, preferred the great outdoors to the litter box (a small, but appreciated blessing), loved the children and got along great with the 3 other cats in our home. Then one day he developed a tumor which grew in size daily. We knew he would need to have it removed. We prepared the children by telling them that he would be shaved and have an exposed wound that would look gross. We said that even though he would look horrible they needed to love and care for him. He was a good cat and deserved our love and respect. He would have ugly stitches and shaved cats were not very pretty. When I left to pick him up I reminded the children that no matter how he looked, they needed to love him. I walked through the door with Coconuts in his carrier and the children gathered around with wide-eyed terror . . . only to see a 4 inch square of fur gone and 14 neat stitches. "Gee Mom, I thought he'd look worse than that!!" they said in disappointment. So, when I tell them that they will need to help care for Pop-Pop and love him, no matter what, is it any wonder they ignore me?