Editor’s note: treasured volunteer Tara was “supposed to” share Sweet Pea’s stories for a good, long time. Sweetness was supposed to linger. But when things don’t go to plan, love still sings its song. Thanks to Tara for writing this all-too-soon tribute.
We human beings, poor delicate orchids that we are, get all blushy and bashful over our odors and vapors and assorted effluvia. Cats, on the other hand, are proud of it all — perhaps especially their snot rockets.
Tell me, please. How is it that you can lose and lose and never be empty?
Human beings are really into ranks and scales and Being Important. Cats prefer to fling our low-minded hierarchies into the deepest, darkest pit.
As the song* has it, the body remembers what the mind forgets. But the reverse is also true.
Whatever we expect from them, cats excel at scrambling our expectations. Perhaps this is one of their great gifts.
We interrupt this Gratuitous Cat Photo season to mark the passing of a giant. A tiny, clementine-bright giant: Mango.
Can I ask you something? (As Jonathan would remark at this point, “Um, ya just did.”) Seriously, though. Are you feeling a little emotional right now?
Time expands and contracts in the presence of someone you love deeply. Expands: How has Adelaide only been with us a year and a half, when clearly it was all our lives? Contracts: How could we only have days left?
In the words of Zora Neale Hurston, there are years that ask questions and years that answer. 2016 is doing an awful lot of both.