It is a Friday evening in June of 2020. I am winding down from a roller coaster of a week. I am violating my, “no wine, while blogging” policy. Potatoe is snuggled up under my chair, and Storme is sound asleep on the chair next to me. Pumpkine is snuggled up on the mini-sofa in the room with us. We are all hanging out in what is now officially my home office.
Sigh, I do not know where Trooper is.
I am having the sidewalk and driveways re-poured and extended. The rework will remedy a number of areas where the sidewalk and driveway are raised, just waiting for someone to hurt themselves in a big way. The driveway extension will give Brainy Bird a place to park his car that does not block my car or Little Chirp’s basketball court. The driveway extension will also provide paving to the barn, which we are adding a garage door to, so we will have a three car garage. Thanks to an old neighbor and friend, this is a well planned project, which should have almost a 100% ROI from a home value perspective.
If only I had gotten the cats inside for breakfast early this morning before the workers came with a jack hammer, and all three cats went missing. A jack hammer taking up cement is enough to scare any animal, especially cautious rescue kitties.
Storme was first to reappear late this afternoon after the workers were gone. I let our sweet Storme inside, and he offered Potatoe the first snuggle, and me the second, after he had checked the house, and did not find Little Chirp. Once the snuggles were done, Storme meowed to be fed. I obliged with is favorite, can of turkey and cheese cat food.
I then felt even more worried about Pumpkine and Trooper. The fur kids normally stick together. I go outside and call them, and they all four come running to me in a pack, and they look out for one another. They even seem to have an order in which they run in the pack. Storme runs in front, Potatoe and Trooper run roughly in tandem, and Pumpkine trails right behind them. So the leader, Little Chirp’s beloved kitty is home, where are the kittens?
<More hours of worry.>
Pumpkine came home around eight this evening. She came to the door, ignoring her food dish, which was sitting outside. She was not hungry; she just wanted her home. This makes me think that someone fed her today as she did not have breakfast or dinner here. Of the fur kids, she definitely eats the least, but her appetite was non-existent tonight.
I am now extra worried about Trooper. If someone is feeding him too, when will he come home?
<Pause to call my sister one more time to discuss how worried I am about Trooper. My sister did not answer, so I went to the backdoor to call for Trooper, one more time. In the door, pops Trooper.>
Amazing what a little fur kid can do for one’s spirits. Trooper also bypassed his food outside, and Pumpkine’s food dish inside, and he went right for a snuggle. I snuggle him, and he was purring in an instant. I set him back down in front of his food dish, and he was not interested in dinner. He made his way into the home office to find Storme and Pumpkine, and he gave each one a snuggle. Potatoe joined in with the kitties for a little fur comradery. I then sat back down to finish this blog post.
<I hear a loud, demanding meow from Trooper. Storme is back to sitting next to me, and he to perks up to see what the problem is.>
Apparently, Trooper has had a long stressful day, and now that he is home and feeling safe and loved, he is famished. I treat him to his favorite, seafood stew cat food, and Pumpkine joined him in the feast; she too was in need of a bite to eat.
What we have here is a mini-sense of community. Everyone is loving and looking out for everyone else. There are countless examples of community in my own life, and billions of examples in our world, but little stories like this do not make the news, nor should they. The bigger picture is much more complicated. I understand that.
Yet, I hang on to the idea that it is the little things in life that matter. We need a change in our hearts, minds and society that can only be driven through one small interaction at a time.