Let me tell ya about a few things. First and foremost, “weekends” aren’t really a thing. What is a thing is taking a break, forcing rest, or just doing something other than whatever you usually do as your primary work.
Secondly, which may also be first and foremost, is that “weekends” (or their relative counterparts during the week for those on alternate schedules) are sacrosanct despite their lack of thinghood.
Thirdly, and this is utterly essential, all the time is sacrosanct.
Despite common colloquialisms, one cannot “make time.” There is time (Isn’t there?).
Period. Full stop.
What one does with one’s available time at any given point in time is a completely different matter. At Tabby’s Place, time matters immensely. Time is both everything and nothing at all. There is never enough time in the day. There is too much time on one’s hands (Oh, wait! That’s a song!). We are always behind time or ahead of time, but seldom in precise time. “Why?,” you may ask. Because cats.
Cats are creatures of their own time.
If you ask cats what time it is, they will scream loudly, “FEEDING TIME!” If you ask cats if they have time for any kind of basic procedures (claw-clipping, ear-cleaning, and the like), they will say, “No!” If you ask them if it is time to take care of a medical issue, they will clam up and curl up in a ball and ignore the inquiry completely. They have no time – or are not willing to spend the time – for anything other than leisure, fish mush, and delightful moments of bathing, sleeping, and frisking, alone or together.
Cats are creatures of sublime and subtle understanding.
Cats know that time is precious.
Cats also know that they – as with all living beings – are precious. They know how to value themselves as well as their time. One word: EXPENSIVE! [Personal note: This is the joke answer to one often-asked question between yours truly and a most dear individual for as long a time as I can remember, and I’ve reached the age of a full deck of cards (not including the jokers…yet).] You see, cats understand that time is finite and, therefore, costly to expend willy-nilly. One must be careful how one passes the time.
At Tabby’s Place, time flows gracefully (humor me) from morning lights on and early rounds through evening rounds and lights off. The first of the staff arrive and ensure certain tasks are undertaken, certain cats are seen to at precise times (more or less), certain medications are dosed, and certain feedings are fed (Okay, weird way of saying that, but you know. I know you know. You know?). Shortly after, at just the right time, volunteers come in on time to see to cleanings, other feedings, and all sorts of tasks that make up the work of each day. Later, those volunteers leave, so others can come in at their time to do what they need to do. Eventually, it is down to the last staff person to determine that it is time to turn out the lights. The next day, the cycle is repeated.
This flow from morning to night, from day to day, from week to week, ensures that cats like Nina are well-cared for, well-fed, and, above all, loved well beyond reason by everyone who takes care of them and by everyone who reads about them and supports them. Nina knows. Nina greatly appreciates the time every reader spends ogling her ridiculously amazing photos (Every single one is a masterpiece!) as much as she appreciates the volunteers who feed and brush her and the staff who make sure she stays healthy and happy.
Also in the lobby, Boobalah has learned how to pass the time at Tabby’s Place and how time passes without her watching it. Only knowing that, as a cat, she is worth it, Boobalah doesn’t know how to value the time of others. But, she benefits from minutes, hours, days, weeks, and beyond that are spent on her well-being. Boobalah is every bit as adored and sweet as her name would betoken, but, as a cat, Boobalah is more posh than any Ivy-Leaguer and is more worth the time spent in her company than any royalty. This she understands intuitively. Boobalah also intuits that visitors fall in love with her in no time at all, just the same as everyone who takes care of her from the most seasoned staff member to the newest volunteer.
Both Nina and Boobalah know, “Time not important. Only life important,” and they didn’t have to watch a fabulous sci-fi movie to figure it out.
So, here we are, concerned to the utmost with how much or how little time we have, how we spend our time, and the rate at which time moves, when the fact of the matter is that time is only time. No matter the expense, time is not of the utmost importance.
The cats (and the movie) have it right: life is the thing that is of the highest importance. And, let me tell ya, Nina and Boobalah have embraced that simple truth in full. Have you?