Saturday, July 31, 2010

Time After Time


When something happens one time you accept it as okay. If it happens a second time it might be a coincident. However, when it happens three, four, five times then you start wondering why? Why is Pixie waking me up at a few minutes past 3:00 AM?

It has been two months now since we lost Mom. Pixie had always been her cat. I will never forget my surprise when I came down three years ago to get my morning coffee and this little black cat waltzed out of Mom’s bedroom liked she owned the place. Mom of course put it on me saying that I wanted another cat. I thought she was kidding about adopting one of the litter that had been born in our storage shed. Little did I know that she had been letting one of the kittens in and feeding her and giving her the run of the house.

Pixie fits her name. She is a little rascal. She is into everything and everything is a toy. She is loving and funny and a brat. Mom loved her and Pixie had picked Mom out to be her special person. She added three years to my Mom’s life. She was with her when she died and stayed with her until my brother got home from work and could take over.

Pixie has decided that I’m her person now. She runs to greet me when I get home from work and wants to be held and cuddled. She stays close to me when I’m home. My brother is her go to person to get kitty treats. My Mom had spoiled her with deli meat and my brother continues to spoil her that way. I spoil her with hugs and cuddles.


For most of my adult life I had been a two cat household. When I lost Sasha a few years ago I had decided to just have the one cat. Merlin had always been a Mommy’s Boy. He had come into my life at the age of four weeks from a litter which the mother cat had abandoned. I had fed him bottles and he sucked on my fingers when he was stressed. He loved being an only child. Merlin hasn’t been too happy with Pixie deciding I was her Mommy now. He really isn’t into sharing. He also misses Mom because she would come upstairs and talk to him. They were two senior citizens together. He misses Mom. We all do.

A couple of weeks ago I realized I was no longer thinking of Pixie as Mom’s cat. She had become my cat. Pixie came to the conclusion at the same time. It was at that time that the 3:00 AM waking me up started. It wasn’t until two nights ago that I realized why. When it first happened I thought maybe she had a kitty nightmare. The second time I thought may be a coincident. As it continued to happen I wasn’t sure what was going on.

The doctor wasn’t sure exactly when Mom passed away but it was sometime during the night. I now know it had to have been a few minutes after 3:00 AM. Pixie must have tried to “wake” Mom up but of course it wasn’t possible to do so. Mom died instantaneously. Her heart just stopped. As Pixie has moved on to me being her person she is still haunted by that time that she tried and failed to wake Mom up. She is waking me up because she needs to know that this person isn’t leaving her. She is scared. In time the fear will go away and she will sleep through the night again knowing that I’ll be awake in the morning and pet her. In the meantime Cyndi Lauper’s song “Time After Time” is Pixie and my song.

Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick,
and think of you
caught up in circles confusion--
is nothing new Flashback--warm nights--
almost left behind

suitcases of memories,
time after--

sometimes you picture me--

I'm walking too far ahead
you're calling to me, I can't hear

what you've said--
Then you say--go slow--
I fall behind--
the second hand unwinds

chorus:

if you're lost you can look--and you will find me
time after time
if you fall I will catch you--I'll be waiting
time after time

after my picture fades and darkness has
turned to gray
watching through windows--you're wondering
if I'm OK
secrets stolen from deep inside

the drum beats out of time--

chorus:

if you're lost...

you said go slow--

I fall behind

the second hand unwinds--

chorus:
if you're lost...
...time after time

time after time
time after time
time after time

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Picture Perfect





I have always been conscious of how fragile this blue/green planet is that we live on. Ever since I was a child I read science fiction and it taught me to dream and also that while we may dream of new worlds we still only have this one planet to live on. Conservation is not a “hippie” thing. Conservation is a necessity if we want to continue to live on Mother Earth. She is all we have and we need to take care of her properly. I want to be able to continue to walk outside with my digital camera and take pictures at any time of year. We have to take care of this planet because pollution can destroy Earth’s ability to give us sights such as these. It is why conservation and fighting for the environment is my way of life.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Happy Birthday



Today would have been my mother’s 84th birthday. I had plans to take her shopping over the weekend so we could use up some of the gift cards I had. Mom loved a bargain and loved gift cards. She was great at saving money. She was the coupon queen. Mom had decided a couple of years ago that this was to be Pixie’s birthday too. We aren’t sure when the cat was born but it was around this time. Mom wanted her cat to share her birthday.

I have continued to take pictures. Mom loved my pictures of flowers. She would have been happy to see the number of gladiolus that have bloomed this year. We have lots of the pink and yellow ones. I was really surprised to see a peach colored one this year. I don’t ever remember seeing a peach one before in our garden. I also would have done a picture for Mom since she loved my art work. I decided to go ahead and do a picture any way. Mom liked this particular outfit and I filled the picture with animals since Mom loved animals so much.

This is the first birthday without her and I’ve been thinking of her all day. I know from now on I have to think about doing the things that need to be done for myself. I need to get the house ready to be sold. I need to think about moving down to North Carolina to be closer to my niece and her children. Today though I’m thinking about Mom and wishing her a happy birthday.


I was a caregiver for six years. My energy was focused on taking care of my Mom. As I move on I find that I want to get back to being more politically involved. There are a lot of things that I would like to see happen. The health care reform is only a start. There is more that needs to be done. There is more that needs to be done towards everyone having the same freedoms regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex or sexual orientation. That fight I want to get more involved in. The environment has never been in a more precarious situation. That fight I want to do more in. There is a lot that I can put my energies towards. Having experienced being a caregiver I can see where there are things that need to be done to help caregivers. Care giving is the most rewarding and the most difficult job there is and I would like to see what I can do to help others through that period.

There is a lot I am facing in the future. I have always felt that you can climb any mountain if you take it one step at a time. I am working now through the financial things from my Mom’s death. I am continuing working on my art and my photography. I have things I want to do but right now I need to tell a little black kitty happy birthday.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Flowerworks




While many of us will be seeing fireworks as we celebrate the Fourth there are some beautiful flowers out too.