It's nice to hear

I was at the adoption center this past weekend, out front with one of the cats.  A passing shopper paused, touched my arm, and said, "You're doing a good thing."

Awwwww.

Every so often, I get a comment like that.  "Thank you for what you're doing."  "You're making a difference."  Even, "God bless you", which, hey, I'm an atheist, but if you want to bestow your god's blessings on me, I'm down with that.

And while I certainly don't need the praise, it's nice to hear once in a while.  I mean, I'm standing out there like an idiot, hour after hour, chatting with people and answering their questions and showing them cats and even walking the cats on leashes (well, the mellower ones, anyway).  And sometimes I feel like the world's craziest cat lady, or some kind of chump, volunteering all these unpaid hours.  And then someone comes along and says, "Thanks",  and I don't feel so bad.

It kind of balances out the other comments.  "I can't stand to see cats in cages." (ME NEITHER, LADY.)  "I can't BELIEVE how much you charge for a stupid stray cat."  (It's eighty-five bucks, dude.  You spent more than that on weed last week.)  "The Chinese restaurant called - they'll take all the cats you have."  (HA HA HARRRRRRR.) 

And it helps to make up for the scratches (my hands look like I plunged them into a rose bush) and the hisses (we have a cat right now who HISSES at any passer-by, including small children, which is a big hit as you can imagine) and the cats who fight tooth and nail to prevent being put back into their cage.

So yeah, if you see someone busting their butt out there volunteering, it's okay to say "thank you".  It's nice to hear.