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Can we get a meow from the felines and their humans?

I was excited to see this holiday among the list of September’s days and weeks of awareness. Okay, not really excited, more amused.

I wanted to share the news with Hamlet and Ofelia, but when I glanced around, neither was in view.

I got up from my black metal chair topped with an orange, gold, and brown travel zafu to go in search. A quick peek in the hallway outside my bedroom, I saw Hamlet curled up against the sand-colored wall housing the breaker box. His new place since summer storms started. It’s sunny today; go figure.

Hamlet is our 12-year-old tuxedo. He rescued us in November of 2009, four months after my partner/spouse died. Ofelia needed rescuing more than me, she had gone into grief so heavy, and she lost weight and added a urinary infection.

Ofelia was in the other bedroom, on the east side of our small apartment. Her long, lean grey-with-cream body stretched out on my practice mat.

 

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So, I will let them know about their special month when we have our regular family conference. In “person,” no Zoom, Facebook chat, or Facetime required.

Cats, felines. Those furballs of fluff, love, and a side of attitude—catittude.

Cats have a long history of living among their humans. Some take it back to Ancient Egypt, and rightfully so. There is proof of domestic cats being entombed with their masters. However, evidence also depicts cats living as workers for humans as far back as 12,000 years ago in the Middle East.

Wow! Can that get a meow!? 

And cats will roam: they traveled from Egypt, Greece, and the Middle East to China and Japan—eventually making their way to North America. Sadly they were met with a too-sad-to-share story of ignorance and despair in Europe’s Middle Ages.

We will not speak of that here.

Cats: delightful, curious, loving, fearless beings.

In 1939, T.S. Elliott wrote a poem, “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” that was made into a long-running musical in 1981 by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Its success is cat-amazingly wild!

I remember seeing it live in Baltimore, Maryland, circa 1982. I was mesmerized by these talented humans in cat costumes and makeup. And proof of its magical storytelling, it is still cat-wildly being performed.

Introducing Ofelia and Hamlet (a poem in several haikus):

Feisty, frisky cats
Delightful balls of soft fur
Whiskery kisses.

Belly rubs are no
Ear scratches bring on loud purrs
Lap cuddles, cat naps.

Ofelia loves touch
And climbing on top of me
Hamlet, not so much.

Hamlet sits close by
His massive size and shyness
Fill my heart with joy.

We are family
Ofelia, Hamlet, and me
United in love.

 

 

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