When you are young, you do not need to be told how to rock and roll.
When you have seen too much, the music may get garbled.
This is the time to return to being young.
Sometimes, the return to kittenhood chooses us.
Lita and Sebastian did not sign up for nostalgia. Adopted in 2022, they had tuned their guitars to the key of a forever home. When they last saw Tabby’s Place, they were small as tambourines, ready to write their own lyrics.
But life does its own stunts.
The song led back to where it all began.
Back in 2022, a speeding car swept their mother away. It was only the mystery of mercy that brought a kind stranger to their side.
Toddlerhood was electric. Innocence plugged in its amp, and Sebastian and Lita entertained sold-out shows of staff and volunteers.
Constantly held, inoculated against fear, they knew nothing of false notes. The world was one big, smitten backup chorus.
To no one’s surprise, Sebastian and Lita went platinum. They were adopted together. The little boy the color of mischief, and the little girl with the orange heart on her head, would get to stay little. They would never have to “grow up” into the knowledge that life can be sharp and flat. They would remain naive, as every kitten deserves.
We cried and cheered as they left our humble arena.
We cried again when the call came in. By no fault of their own, Lita and Sebastian had to come back to Tabby’s Place.
It is important to note that we never judge folks who cannot keep their adopted cats. We do not know what someone may be facing, and it is our place to treat everyone with empathy, not throw stones. We are forever grateful that Sebastian and Lita’s adopters brought them back to Tabby’s Place. This was an act of love.
But the transition would not be easy.
At first, Sebastian shrieked and hissed. Lita lunged and cried. She did not remember she was born with an orange heart on her head. She did remember that she was warm and merry, and then she wasn’t, and now the world was a clanging cymbal without love.
She attacked Sebastian. She attacked the audacity of kindness. Like anyone who attacks, what she really did was mourn.
Sebastian was the first to hear music again. At first, it sounded like a rumor, a fuzzy hum. Everyone at Tabby’s Place was in tune with his needs. The voices were soft as cellos. He and his sister were welcomed like the homecoming king and queen. There was tenderness, all the time.
Lita was not ready to hear us. Perhaps her brother might sing duets with these dubious people, but Lita had learned too much. People sing a lot of promises. People tell you that you are safe. And then you are swinging in a carrier to the rhythm of regret.
Sebastian started to shine anyway. Someone gave him a “garden house” made of cardboard and whimsy. He declared it more glorious than the Las Vegas Sphere. Catnip made him silly, and there is a secret passageway from “silly” to “young again.” Sebastian tried to take Lita with him. Lita could not yet listen.
But Lita could eat, which every cat knows is the heart of rock and roll. Lita could let fingers strum her back while she nibbled. When the nuggets were gone, the radio went out. But nuggets persisted, and so did all these patient people. Lita looked us in the eyes.
Lita let us touch the orange heart on her forehead.
Lita heard a hint of a hymn.
It frightened her.
If the first innocence is every kitten’s birthright, the second innocence is a choice. It can be declined. But if you reject the path that leads back to littleness, you will be changed. The arrows will bounce off your shield, but so will the music. Safe in the den of distrust, you will walk in silence.
There is another way.
There is a way back to youth.
Lita has chosen the better way.
Lita is not the same kitten who never heard of sadness. She can no longer fit in the palm of a hand. She has loosened her grip on guarantees.
But in the second innocence, she has chosen a better song than perfect circumstances. She has begun to believe that life can never take more than love will give.
She has felt the kiss on the far side of grief.
She has been ancient at age two, and she has begun retracing her steps to youth.
We will be with her, and Sebastian, and each other, every step of the way.