Oh Foolish Human! So you think you own a cat...by Jude Pittman

Honestly, after raising four kids and the assortment of strays, foundling, adoptees and whatever they managed to fill our various households with, I firmly resolved that I’d admire other people’s pets and let them do the caretaking.  

My daughter Tami had a dog named Peppers.  All of us adored Peppy. Such a sweetheart.  Of course they got her when the grandkids were little and it wasn’t until John and I moved to Calgary eight years ago that we became well-acquainted with Peppy.  But boy did she have us wrapped around her little paws in a short time.  Sadly, she died two years ago.  We still miss her.

Last year, my mom who was 94 and slowing down a lot was going to spend her first winter here in Calgary where winters are long and cold.  For the past 8 years she had spent winters at my brother’s place in Phoenix and summers with John and I here in Calgary.  Last year, however, the travel was becoming too much for her and her health was failing so we decided to get her a cat for companionship.  My daughter had recently purchased a Rag Doll named Annie.  Gorgeous, docile, sweet tempered Annie.  So we thought, why don’t we get a Rag Doll, they seem so sweet.  

There was an advertisement for a neutered male, just one and a half, not pure bred, but they assured us he was mostly all Rag Doll.  They loved the cat but the husband had developed an allergy and his doctor told them they’d have to get rid of the cat.  I was working so sent John to check him out and pick him up if he was suitable.

John fell in love.  He must have because “Bailey” howled all the way from the other side of the city until they got home.  He was indeed a handsome kitty, but he was definitely not to turn out to be the “quiet, docile little rag doll” that we had envisioned.

My mom looked at him, and said, you know Judy, I’m pretty sure he’s a Siamese.  Look at his blue eyes and listen to him.  He sure sounds more Siamese than rag doll.  Well, as usual mom turned out to be right, but Bailey didn’t let that bother him.  He had her doing his bidding within a couple of hour.  As a matter of fact that very day he established what our purposes were.  Filling his bowls, seeing that he had the prime seat in the house, making sure our laps were ready for leaps (mom didn’t weigh more than 100 pounds, but he’d jump right up there, settle his head against her chin and she’d have to stay where she knew better than to get up and leave – the scolding she’d get was enough to discourage that behavior. 

Sadly mom passed away in February and looking back now I understand why Bailey spent almost all of his time either curled up on her bed or beside her in her chair (she’d become weak and he seemed to understand when she’d slide him down beside her so that he didn’t hurt her bones).

There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t remember things we talked about or things we did, just having her there.  She’s the one person in my life who always listened to me.  Bailey, I think feels the same.  He’s now taken over her room.  He sleeps on her bed (when he’s not taking up the biggest part of the middle of our bed), and it’s clear he considers her room to be his own private domain.  Mom was always a complete neatnik, and I now keep my clothes in her closet, but you should hear the scolding I get if I’m careless enough to toss anything down on the bed. 

Actually he also considers himself in charge of the other bedroom which is what I use for my office.  I’m a book publisher so you can imagine how much time I spend on the computer.  If he thinks I’ve been on there too long he’ll march into the room, leap into my lap and flatten himself out on my keyboard.  Message received.  Time to take a break.

What a cat.  How in the world did we ever manage our household without him?

We call him King Bailey, the Siamese in disguise.

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Find Jude's BWL titles here: http://bookswelove.net/judepittman.php

and watch for her next release, Sisters of Prophecy, co-authored with Gail Roughton, coming soon from BWL!

You want to be happy? By Sandy Semerad

“You want to be happy. We all do. You just need to figure out how to get there. I don’t think any one person can make you happy. Only you can make yourself happy,” said Freemont Jackson, one of my characters in A Message in the Roses… “As to being content long-term, that has to come from within.”

Easy to say or write about, but how do we actually achieve that long-term contentment?  

A Benedictine monk claims the answer is simple. We need to slow down, look where we’re going and be grateful.

If we stop and look before we go, we can better take advantage of the opportunities life has to offer, Monk David Steindl-Rast said on a recent NPR program. And if we miss one opportunity, another one will come along soon, according to Monk David.

“Grateful people are joyful people,” he said. “If we’re grateful, we’re not fearful. If we’re not fearful, we’re not violent.”

A long time ago, I discovered I’m happier when I count my blessing, though for many years, I searched for bliss, and I’ve listened to my share of happiness experts. One such expert, Author Shawn Achor, said we would all be happier if we do the following activities every day:

1. Think of three new things for which you’re thankful. Repeat this exercise for 21 days so the practice will become habitual. Also share your gratitude with your significant other and friends. Then ask them to reveal their three new blessings. Sharing doubles your happiness, he said.

2. To double your optimism, take two minutes to write down your gratitude and your most meaningful experiences. Again do this every day for 21 days.

3. Add 15 minutes of a fun activity to your day, Achor said. This must be a physical activity like walking the dog or gardening. (I love walking my dog P-Nut. She definitely knows how to live in the moment. I think she’s trying to teach me. Of course, I’m always in the moment when I’m writing.) Achor didn’t include hugging and making love as fun activities. They certainly qualify. (I know Carrie Sue Justice, my protagonist in A Message in the Roses, would think so).

4. Smile at least three times every day. Smiling increases the serotonin in the brain apparently.

5. Get social, if you want to charge your happiness battery. People can motivate you more than anything, Achor said. So take time to encourage and motivate others. In other words, spread the happiness.

I like the idea of spreading happiness. If only we could somehow, magically, make everyone in the world more grateful, unafraid, nonviolent, and ultimately content. Swoosh, just make it happen. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? #happiness

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