Warriors Know it Wasn’t Curiousity That Killed the Cat...

When we first adopted the kittens I was fascinated watching them. So different was their approach to life than that of the dogs. There’s sort of a snobbery one way or the other of “I’m a dog person” or “I have cats”...but me, I just love animals! My dream is to have a farm one day with a slew of misfit animals; especially cows 😂. I just love cows, which dates back to my granddaddy’s farm in Franklin, NC, but on my small, Santa Fe, patch of property this little menagerie is probably enough. People are fond of categorizing cats as aloof at best, plotting tiny pawed murder at worst. These are people who do not have kitties. Those of us who do would tell you...They couldn’t be bothered with such an exhaustive plot. I recently returned from a three day business trip. Mattigan turned on all the courtyard lighting and rushed out the door to greet me. Moxy and Mayhem wiggled, jumped, nearly coming out of their bodies so delighted were they to see me home. I hurried down the stairs to see how the kittens had faired in my absence; fearing they might have felt neglected by my sudden departure. Opening the door two pair of green eyes looked my direction acknowledging the interruption. There was not so much as a tail wag or meow of welcome...the collective look was that of...”and?”...which made me literally laugh out loud. These are the moments that keep a person humble. 😂 In all honesty it was, as all things are for a writer, an illustrative story. Those kitties love us, they do, but it is on their terms. They have “a lot going on” in those little kitty lives and, yes...they’ll purr and give us affection, but they aren’t going to drop batting around their ball of bells attached to a feather or trapping the play pink mouse just because we decided *now* was a good time for us. I think that could be called boundaries if extrapolated to a ridiculous conclusion...and look; I’m nothing if not ridiculous. When we first brought them home I understood why the phrase “curiosity killed the cat” became an oft uttered, time tested, phrase. Blade would scale window screens like Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible character with such agility I’d still fingers on the keyboard just to watch. Pedigree would take such death defying leaps from Mattie’s four poster bed to an adjacent dresser housing a masquerade mask to bat for prey I’d be sure she could never make it. I laugh at the similarities between the wresting style of Mattie’s favorite SuperStar, Seth Rollins and the cat named for his finishing move, Pedigree. Their curiosity was on constant display. Their desire to “see it all” was more fun to watch than any reality television program. I began to formulate all the ways their curiosity inspired me and realized another truism about cats...they always land on their feet. If reframed all things in our lives are a lesson. I began to wonder what the lesson of the cats was to me. My dogs exemplify the love and loyalty I treasure and carry as part of my character but these cats reveal something important too. The feline approach to life is that of an independent hunter attacking life as its prey. There’s no codependency or inherent need for approval in the ethos of a cat. There’s death defying jumps to be taken and screens to be scaled. There’s too much adventure to be undertaken to ask approval from the committee so leaps are simply made without plan B in place. This isn’t selfishness, this is self assertion. This isn’t vanity, it’s self care. This isn’t what will kill you...it’s what will bring new life. I believe everything that surrounds us is a reflection of the story we need to read. I believe just like cats are said to have nine lives we have various chapters to write in a different color pen. I believe it was never curiosity that killed the cat, but rather complacency. I believe as a warrior we must take giant leaps without looking and know that we will land on our feet...ALWAYS! xo😻d