Forget fog. Spring “comes in on little cat feet” (thanks anyway, Carl Sandburg).
Yet, even as it does, winter blows its harsh last gasps, roaring its frustration as it is forced to abdicate in favor of its gentler relative.
At times, cold blasts leave us quavering like a sea of tremulous willows. Standing together, we may flail, but with graceful bending and swaying, our roots hold.
Cold precipitation pelts at us, but we are a forest of mighty oaks. Standing together, our strong trunks bear the brute force of the beating, and our roots hold.
Left unchecked, your humble blogger is apt to starting rolling down a list of our tree-like attributes, so you may as well just listen to The Lumberjack Song. It’s much funnier. Box checked.
Like winter, these times – of buffeting bad news and cowering in our fancy caves, of howling in our isolation from so many and so much – are thrashing and churning even as warmth is flooding back into our limbs and hearts. Although, the warmth never really left our hearts.
Like multitudes of Dolly Levi clones, Tabby’s Place supporters have continued to send love and donations to the cats and out into the world.
Like screaming tea kettles blowing off steam, all of you have shouted back at the hardest harshness of our too-interesting times. But your shouts are cheers, and your screams are shrieks of joy as we slowly regroup and find each other holding firm.
Tabby’s Place is doing more than holding. It is expanding physically and metaphorically. New ground will be broken, and existing spaces will be refreshed.
Spring is here, bringing hope of a return, and we, too, will be refreshed. There will not be a return to normal, though. We have all outgrown what was. Our camaraderie and connectedness are bigger and grander and sweeter than ever before.
As the Tabby’s Place space swells and more cats are brought in, our love, hard work, and unity of purpose will continue to grow beyond bounds, in the face of change, standing strong, yet bowing gracefully.
The time of growth and magnificent change is coming. It’s blowing in with the wind.
Editor’s note: The marvel you behold here is Porchetta, whose springing beauty befits Kitty’s breathtaking words. XO, AH
Porchetta is lovely. Made up of orange tabby and brown tabby and white – thank you for introducing this beauty. May the winds of change blow gently through your oaks and pussy willows.