My dad, the big softy

If you were to look at my father say in the grocery store or just out and about, you might not realize how big of a heart he really has. Especially if you've just cut him off in traffic and see his fist waving at you in your rear view mirror. You'd probably think he's a grumpy old man at that point.

But in actuality, he's a big softy.

He works at a car auction and there on the lot where all of the cars are parked week after week, live a group of feral cats. One female cat had litter after litter of kittens. "Mommy", as Dad came to call her, was lucky to have found him. Dad adopted SEVEN of her kittens (from 4 different litters) and they now live with my parents who already had two cats (one of which was from the auction as well but unconfirmed as to whether it was Mommy's kitten or not).

Mommy was too feral to bring home although Dad tried. He put her in his work truck one day and she basically flipped out until he decided it was best to just let her out before she had a heart attack or something. Dad brings her and the other feral cats at work food every day. EVEN on the weekends when the auction is closed (he has the keys to the lot). When Mom and Dad come to visit us, they often cite having to the "feed the cats" as a reason to not stay the night. This not only means their brood at home but the group at the auction as well.

About a month ago, Mommy and one of her kittens stopped coming for food. Dad figures them to have been killed by car or another animal. Still there were about 4-5 other cats which still came each day to get their ration of food. Dad quickly became attached to one of them which looks like one he already has at home named Tippy. Apparently, Dad talked a lot about this Tippy look-a-like at home with Mom. She was the only one on the lot who would come up close enough for him to pet her.

Earlier this week, Dad was driving to the area where the cats wait for him and the Tippy look-a-like, excited to see him I guess, ran in front of Dad's truck. Unfortunately, there was no avoiding her and she was hit by the front and back wheels of the truck. When Dad got out to go look, she was already dead. I know Dad was broken up about this. I hate to think of him upset but I know this made him very distraught. I can only imagine how he felt and what was going through his head at the time. Mom said he was still talking about her on Friday.

Tonight I'm going to call him to see he's feeling any better. I hope he is. I'm not sure if I should bring it up or not. I guess I'll just follow his lead to see if he wants to talk about it.