I am packing up to head into town with the children. My daughter takes the recycling out, headphones in her little jewel-like ears, as per usual. I hear a small commotion and look outside to see the blonde head of my youngest – he’s racing through the yard. My first thought when I see my kids outside is such gladness they get to be here, not in school. My second thought is usually an intense surge of love so deep it is like a drug hit.
I hear my son crying now. I have a hundred and one things I’m (trying not to be) thinking about, but when Nels comes inside I know something is up, the intensity. “Pip!” he cries out, tears streaming down his cheeks, naming our youngest cat. “He had a rat in his mouth and I tried to get it away from him and he bit down and I heard it squeaking!” Hot tears brimming in his eyes, his face flushed. I bring him on my knee and he curls in close as if he was still a young child. I feel grim about this all, because I can just hear the squeaking, too. I also know in just a moment of my care he’ll calm down. And he does.
My kidney pain is horrid. It comes and goes. Last night in yoga class I panted and closed my eyes and tried not to throw up. Coughing weakly a bit. I’m feeling angry as I stretch up, arms reaching up up up, then fold, and then lift, then plant hands, then plank. Angry. Angry at whom? No one did this to me. Or if they did, why anger? What is the point? My shoulder twinges. I move back into Child’s Pose prematurely, my forehead on the grimy mat. My mind on the palm of my hands, the deep stretch in my hips, which feels divine.
I suppose I’ll never really figure it out.
Our rescue kitty, Rowan, killed a dove in front of all of us, on a balcony. He lunged. He was fast, the poor dove was confused. We heard and saw it, I had to clean up and comfort my three girls. It is little consolation knowing this is how the natural world works, but we had to stick with that…..this is the order of things, unpleasant as it is to us. We also praised him (I know!) because he was doing what he is supposed to do, as a cat. He has also killed scorpions and centipedes trying to enter our home, which I must confess, was something I was extremely grateful for at the time. So we talked about life, value, how we order these things and the natural world.
Hope sweet Nels and Pip are both feeling better.