There is a Twilight Zone episode “The Howling Man.” A seemingly innocent man is held prisoner. There is no lock on his cell, only an easily removable wooden stick across the lock. hold. The monks that guard the tower where the man is held tell a visitor to leave the man alone. The visitor having sympathy on the man lifts the bar off the door and the innocent man is revealed to be an evil being who once freed, injures the man, grows stronger and dissapears in a puff of smoke. Sometimes it’s best to leave the stick on the door and let the person who seems to need help stay where they are so they don’t damage or destroy you in the course of you helping them. As a friend said long ago “If a person can’t bring you up don’t let that person bring you down.”
Category Archives: Inspirational
Time Passing
I paid a visit to Roxie and Jean Claude today. Last night during a cocktail party at CCL’s house JC came out to greet me, Roxie stayed hidden. Today she came out for a brief spell, let me pet her and then dissappeared into CCL’s bedroom where she rested comfortably on the middle of the bed. Clearly, she has adjusted to her new/old space and it was time. It’s funny about some things in our lives, people come and go. If we are lucky we have people (and animals and a couple of pairs of jeans) that grow with us. Change is inevitable – as is the passing of time. Sometimes one lingers in a spot for a long time, it’s comfortable or it feels like if we give the situation more time there might be some magical transformation. Eventually reality and acceptance steps in. We have waited and it is still the same old, same ole but we have grown and expanded emotionally, mentally and spiritually – and the situation just doesn’t fit. It’s time for new adventures.
Female Empowerment
There is a lot of controversy in the American political arena about women, our bodies, our health. Some say that those trying to implement restrictions are merely trying to change the debate to subjugate women and reduce our societal roles. They have declared war on women and womenhood. Women are life-givers, caretakers and these days, leaders, champions and anything we dern well please. As women our anatomy is unique to our personhood. It sometimes dictates our moods and our habits but it is not a hindrance to our ability to lead, to encourage and to thrive. Still there are those would like to turn the clock back, reducing or restricting our reproductive rights. They sent up trial balloons on the airwaves and in certain state legislatures. Women, wise as we are, are fighting back and speaking up. We are joined by enlightened men who are standing up for our rights as well. Yes, it is a mistake to underestimate the power of the female. Even in the cat world that is true. Roxie, the female Japanese bobtail, is fierce, often refusing to share the feeder with Jean Claude, the much larger male black Bombay. Regularly little Roxie beats Jean Claude at play – she kicks his butt frankly. Still she relies on him to protect her interests and to bring her comfort. There is balance and unity and sometimes peace.
Leap Year Forward
I was born today. I suppose that makes me special in that the day itself comes only every four years. Today I’m looking out at the landscape of my life and I’m happy. I have wonderful friends, family and a life I enjoy. There are challenges . Despite the fact I have a superior staff at my job…really just wonderful people who are very talented…work of late as become a challenge. My sister has MS and while she is courageous and cheerful, the disease has progressed. I have a job, my sister, who sent me the corniest Blue Mountain card ever, is still with us and she is slowly doing a little better. There is always a bright side to every dilemma. So today as I am special in God’s eyes I will focus on positive change and moving forward.
Who You Are
It’s never too late to be who you might have been. – George Eliot, English novelist (1819 – 1880)
This quote was left for me on a turn-down service provided by a hotel. It got me thinking about who you are supposed to be and who you are.
For example. When we got the cats, they were kittens. When I picked Roxie from the shelter, she was always spastic and crazy. When I picked her up she immediately started playing with my earrings and she had poop on her tail (a hazard of the otherwise really cute Bob tails). And today. She still loves to bel picked up, she still goes crazy for toys and she still occasionally gets poop in her tail She has always had the same personality and always knew who she was.
Jean-Claude, however, was another story. His name from the shelter was Tiny because they thought he was the runt of the litter. As a matter of fact, Jean-Claude and Roxie weighed almost the same amount. However, within one month Jean-Claude went from four pounds to six pounds. He increased his body weight by 50% in a month! However, the vet wasn’t concerned as Jean-Claude was also growing. So the shelter had it wrong. Jean-Claude, who has settled into a 15 pound solid cat very large cat with his super long tail, wasn’t the runt of the litter. He merely had to move himself to the right conditions to succeed and become the cat he always was. Those conditions of success for him being the love and support of three crazy women (Roxie included).
I was a mix. I’ve always had my own beat and been different, but didn’t really accept or embrace it until later.
What conditions do you need to become who you want to be? We all need love and support. One of the hardest things to do in life is to cut out people who are not adding anything to our lives. Maybe they aren’t detracting from our life, but if they aren’t adding anything, do we need them to just take up the space? The older I get, the more I realize that I have such wonderful, positive people in my corner. People I love and people who love me without condition.
Who do you want to become? Are you living the life you imagined? Are you fulfilling your purpose in life? While these are questions that we see all the time, you can never remind yourself of these lessons in life enough.
Cats & All That ™ 