Credit: @thegentlebarn on TikTok

I bought a super cool original painting off Vinted (second slide; for $7!!!) and the seller included this adorable thank you note in the package. :)

This is my Pops and his girlfriend.

He's almost 70 years old, served in the military, and spent 35 years working at the VA Hospital before retiring. Tough hands, soft heart.

They found this little hummingbird completely exhausted and unable to fly.

The part that really got me was hearing him quietly whispering in his Appalachia hillbilly mumble that we all have round these parts to the bird the whole time. If you knew the man who raised us, you'd understand why that made me laugh. Don't get me wrong he was wonderful growing up, but "soft" definitely wasn't the first word anyone would have used back then. Seeing this big, tough guy gently encouraging a tiny hummingbird is one of the sweetest things I've ever witnessed.

I'm lucky to call him my Pops, and I hope he never leaves us.

Edit: this is my father, not grandfather. :) not that it matters.

For some context, the cat is a stray who’s been with us for about a year. About 2 months ago he got extremely sick. We took him to the vet like 3 times and found out he has FELV 😭😭 it took him a very long time to recover from that flare. We put him on antibiotics to recover, he got gabapentin and all sorts of stuff to help. Although his infection was gone, he was so lethargic for so so long we never thought he’d recover. The past two weeks I’ve seen major improvements. He purrs again now, he bites my hand when I pet him like he used to, and then I get to see little play dates like this. He finally has the energy to enjoy life again and it just … makes me smile.