It was a warm summer afternoon when I escorted Minnie home from the Jackson County Animal Shelter, accompanied by her one-week-old kittens: five of them. As if Minnie wasn't busy enough nursing her own litter, a fellow volunteer asked if there might be room for one more, a feisty little orphan who had just lost both mother and sibling. Minnie was a little wary of the newcomer at first, but soon accepted little Ariel as one of her own.

In my years of fostering, I had never inherited a complete family of mother and kittens, and my summer with Minnie and her brood left me in awe of the simple miracles of nature. Every day brought new respect for the marvelous design of instinct: how Minnie knew to feed and groom her little ones, and how her kittens thrived from her warmth and affection. In those early weeks, I watched them learn from their mother everything they needed to know to become cats.

As the kittens grew, the workload increased: weaning them onto solid food, box training, lots of socializing, and lots of cleanup chores! But the rewards were equally great, and John and I could scarcely tear ourselves away from their adorable world of climbing, jumping, scampering, and finding new hideouts to nestle in.

All too soon, we faced the prospect of finding good homes for Minnie and the kittens. There were regular trips to adoption sites, a mass e-mailing through the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and a bulletin board poster at the theatre featured photos of the entire brood.

Finally, only Minnie remained, and to our delight a friend visiting from Portland fell in love with her, almost turned around on the freeway to come back for her, and called the moment he got home to say he'd love to adopt her. By happy coincidence, I was traveling to Portland myself for an audition the following week, so Minnie accompanied me on my trip. Once again, this time on a lovely afternoon in October, I escorted Minnie to her new home.

Her tale is a saga of miracles: the wonders of nature, the rewards of teamwork, and the amazing power of unconditional love.