1998 - Experiencing Dissatisfaction, Linda Starts to Needle, Rollo the Cat, Husband Goes Mobile, Shouldering the Children.

Linda helped so many, literally saved so many, and Rollo the cat symbolized so much of that drive.

New Smyrna had a big problem with feral cats, like most of Florida, like much of anywhere. Coming home from acupuncture class one night, her headlights reflected off of a small glistening bubble in their driveway.  It was a feline amniotic sac, still pulsing, a newborn kitten still inside, presumably dropped from the laboring mother as Linda’s car arrived.

Tenderly, almost reverentially, Linda picked up and opened the sac, freeing the eyes-shut kitten that barely breathed. Everyone told her: admirable but futile. She did not listen, and with eye droppers gave homeopathic rescue remedy and little drops of fortified milk.

Over the weeks, unbelievably, the kitten, named then “Rollo,” thrived, grew, and became their cat for the next 18 years.