Cats are independent
October 16, 2008 (Thursday)
On Monday the stock market had the largest gain in history, but on Wednesday the worst loss in 21 years. I’m sorry, but I have no comment on this. I am at a loss to understand it. I will focus my thoughts on how we feel about the economic crisis we are experiencing. Right now, however, I’m thinking about something entirely different.
On the weekend of October 3-6 I stayed with my grandchildren in The Woodlands because their parents went out of town. Each morning when I arose, I let their cat out of the garage where she had spent the night. She had food and water, but when I opened the garage door she hopped to top of my car and licked the moisture from the condensation on the roof. She seemed to think that was better water than that in her bowl.
Her name is O.J. because of her orange color.
I like cats because they take care of themselves. I am allergic to them, and I can’t pet them or get close to them, but I like them. In some ways, they still have a wild streak. They hunt like their ancestors, but if they catch their prey, many times they seem not to know what to do with it, because they are domesticated now. Still, some of their instincts defy our understanding.
In the late fifties, we lived northwest of Fort Worth, and one winter we had a blizzard with ice, snow and high winds. Our cat was expecting kittens, and I could not find her. As I was donning my heavy clothes, Wanda asked why. “I’m going to find our cat. She will die out there.” Wanda’s experience with cats led her to laugh and say, “That cat will be all right. She knows how to take care of herself.” But I went out into the terrible weather and searched over an hour until I found her, warm as toast, nursing her litter, very comfortable in a tiny “cave” in the north side of a big ditch, partially hidden by leaves and twigs she had somehow managed to use as a cover for the “cave.” When I found her, she looked up at me as if to say, “What in the world are you doing out here in this blizzard?”
Ain’t nature grand? God cares for all creatures great and small.