Just Another Kitty Tale: Life's Ying Yang

"I have seen the future and it licks itself clean..."
-Bucky Katt

The other evening as I was driving home I noticed the perfect metaphor for this year's Presidential campaign.

On a side street in sunny Roseville were two immaculately maintained neighboring yards, one displaying a "Bush/Cheney" sign the other exhibiting a "Kerry/Edwards" sign. The only observable difference between the two yards was that in the driveway of the latter was a sign that read, "Free Gravel." When you get down to the nitty gritty isn't that really the difference between Democrats and Republicans? They're pretty much the same only one is into offering its constituents something for nothing even if that something is pretty much worthless. It seemed too poetic to ignore, just another sign of life's ying yang I thought to myself.

That evening I was sitting in the new upper wing of my house watching Thompson lick Diego-san clean (as his tongue stroked the top of Diego's head, Diego's left eye rhythmically opened and shut). This is what passes for entertainment during these days when I consider myself fortunate for being able to sleep in on a Saturday until 6 a.m.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about (which is quite the norm believe you me) I'm a quiet little hard working Asian fellow living with two cats (seven limbs between them) who recently used his extra hours work pay to upgrade his humble little house to have a master bedroom and bathroom in what used to be the unfinished attic to his house.

The other day my sister was over to see the new addition and I was telling her that my roommates now act as if the sunny upstairs has always been there. I told her one of Diego-san's favorite things to do is leap up on the ledge that frames the steep stairway up into the upper wing. The ledge is about five inches wide and Diego sits perched up taunting the three-legged Thompson who doesn't have the balance to make the leap (where an ill fated attempt would mean quite the long fall). Yet another example of life's ying yang equal parts funny and sad looking at the smug look on Diego's face and the mournful look in Thompson's ever sad eyes.

There isn't much that Thompson can't do with a little adjustment to his unfortunate handicap, yet this is one thing Diego-san found (and believe me he does search) as an advantage he has over his wrestling buddy.

So I was getting out of the shower a few days later and by instinct I opened the bathroom door and looked for Thompson who likes to greet me after my morning shower to roll around my feet and further clean them by licking me. This particular morning Thompson was nowhere in sight. I turned to my left and there I saw not one, but two kitties lying observantly on the ledge above the stairway.

As the three of us enjoy and adjust to this change to our environment and home I can't help but feel a twinge of sadness remembering the late great Mr. Max, a former occupant of this house. When we moved from our last apartment into this house Max lost all the sunny spots he used to lie in. I know he would have loved the beams of sunlight that pour in from the skylights in the early afternoon. I know he would have loved the high view of the neighborhood that one can observe from the two far ends of the upper wing.

He might be a tad uptight about others of his species existing in the same place but somehow I still feel his presence and know that he is telling me that all can be all right if only I can take a moment or two to see what is in front of me. And believe me that is a hard thing to do with an exhausted mind even if I still have all my limbs intact.