My Parents and their Cat (#98)

I got some happy news about ten minutes ago when I looked at my phone and saw that I had missed a call from my parents. They have been going through a sense of fear because they lost their young cat three days ago. My parents live by themselves and their cat is their little bundle of joy. Well, the cat was meowing outside their door early this morning. The cat is home. I talked to both my parents during the preceding three days and they both were feeling a loss and guilt about the cat having got out and away from them. Sadie, the cat, is an indoor cat but she is still fairly young and full of curiosity. It isn't surprising that Sadie would try to get out and away, it does however bring to the surface the raw emotion of attachment that Sadie symbolizes in my parents life. Our hearts are just as vulnerable to deep emotion whether given to a human or animal. I know the feeling, having gone through my own experiences with animals and loss. My parents are mature and determined to live a quality of life expressing their will to be a part of life. The cat's adventure however took something out of their souls. They sounded lost and defeated at the real possible loss of Sadie. Their deep sense of loss hurt those of us who knew of their misfortune. Their voices this morning also conveyed their joy over recovering Sadie and the love they both feel for her. My parents raised eight children and numerous grandchildren, but Sadie is loved by them just as much. Life gives us what we live, and how we live with it, is the true barometer of the character of our lives.