What a surprise it was for me to go outside this morning, to feed the birds and find my friend and neighbor, Doreen, at the end of my driveway. She was putting a thankyou card in my mailbox. Seeing her brightened my day and when I had the opportunity to take the time out to open the card, to my surprise, it turned out to be a piece of beautiful artwork. The front of the card was a painting of me wearing a dress in mixed with collage items. Doreen is very special and very talented.
Our friendship started around eighteen years ago when I was pregnant with my son, Michele. Doreen was a La Leche Leader. I met Doreen during meetings while I was pregnant to learn about breastfeeding. After giving birth, and sore nipples, post partum depression, being alone and overwhelmed while recovering from a c-section, it was Doreen who came over with meals and encouragement. And for that I will always be grateful and a wonderful friendship was born.
Doreen is a RN who is the mother of three fantastically handsome young men. I mean the kind of good looking where you have to stare. Her husband, Zeke, is wonderfully handsome as well. Doreen works as a preschool teacher. She is always planning art classes and she loves her job. It's a gift that these children are blessed to be with her. Doreen is also and incredible artist and photographer. She has won prizes several times in both catagories.
As if Doreen's life is not busy enough, she has also become somewhat of a "KITTY MAMA" - by this I mean that she actually discovered a situation in our neighborhood where a cat hoarder had passed away and left a slew of kitties not only homeless but some were sick with disease and injured. Doreen took it upon herself during the spring, summer and fall of '09 to capture and get kittys spayed and neutered. Some of the cats were brought back to their home, but that was only if they were older, healed and fixed. Doreen paid for all this out of her own pocket. She said the vet gave her a discount, it wasn't however, much of a discount. Doreen has found litters of newborn kitties that she had brought home, litter after litter, left for dead, diseased, eye infections and scabbed. She had all the animals checked by the vet, she nursed and raised all the kitties till they were able to be adopted and she managed to find homes. (Ours being one of them). I believe she trapped nearly 30 adult cats to be neutered.
Doreen also has a knack for caring for and raising wild or injured birds that fall out of nests. Last spring she found a pair of small baby birds who were probably blown out of their nests, she hand fed these babies around the clock every twenty minutes till they grew and they actually did end up flying out of the coop!
Even though Doreen had a couple of cats, she ended up becoming adopted by one of the kitties, named "Lovey". Lovey was a mommy cat whom Doreen cared for while she nursed her kitties. Lovey was then neutered and the kittens were given healthcare and love till they were old enough to be adopted out. When Doreen took Lovey back to her home after she was on the mend, it did not take long for Lovey to find her way back to Doreen's house.
Doreen also rescued two beautiful dogs from the animal shelter. Whom adore and admire her.
Doreen is an Artist, Healer and she's a totally fantastic woman. She is like salve on the soul when she's in my pressense. An inspiration.
Thank you Doreen for making me feel so special with the beautiful artwork you made for me.
Love,
Marguerita
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