August 22, 2007 at 3:46 am · Filed under Life, Pets and tagged: affectionate, cat, crazies, pet adoption, Pets, posture, teaser, whine, won over
My black kitty has awakened and wants me to play with her. She does this every night.
She is not the same cat we brought home from the animal shelter two years ago.
Istas was a 4-month-old kitten that had been captured by animal control. I don’t know what her short life was all about before we adopted her, but she was not a cat who wanted affection. She whined when we picked her up and purred like a motorboat yet kept one arm outstretched against us so we couldn’t hold her too closely. It was as if she was saying, “Clearly I cannot keep you from picking me up, but I will make certain you know how much this displeases me.”
Whatever!
I wondered how long she was on her own. And I wondered whether we could ever win her over by our affection for her. I was willing to keep trying.
That trying paid off. She is an amazing girlie-girl cat who stays up late with me while I write. She talks (and talks and talks) to me each morning when I come downstairs. She throws herself on the floor and purrs away while I pet her. I call it “worship time” because she’s a cat and of course that’s what she thinks I’m doing. She has us trained, I suppose.
She comes when we call her, talking/purring all the way, and yes, she even lets us hold her close….okay, she protests a bit, but not like she used to.
She initiates play with us. Some nights she drags her feather teaser around and drops it at our feet. Other nights she’ll get the nighttime crazies, head me off while I’m walking around and posture me repeatedly trying to get me to chase her — ”Come and Get Me” is one of her favorite games.
And we have conversations. I don’t know what exactly I’m saying to her when I meow back at her when she meows at me, but it keeps it going. Then she flops down on the floor and I’m there “worshiping” her again. I know, I’m “one of those” and I’m unashamed about it.
She’s a treasure. I wouldn’t have believed two years ago that she would come around eventually. Turns out, she’s a perfect fit for this bustling family of 7. We have plenty of love to give her.
© Alexa Lopez 2007
August 19, 2007 at 3:24 am · Filed under Life and tagged: ambition, creative, dreams, entertain, goals, writer
One could think that I’ve given up on some dreams from my younger days.
In sixth grade I was encouraged to try out for a school vocal solo by all my friends because they all thought I had a great singing voice. So I did, and I got the part.
Now, leading up to that event, my only ambition in life was to write. I liked singing around the house and what-not, but I never wanted to be a singer.
The sudden attention I got from everyone after that school musical was exhilarating. I found myself entertaining lofty thoughts of being discovered by some talent agent, of being a vocalist in high demand, of doing concerts and entertaining people. Woo hoo! I imagined being on stage in front of thousands of people and have them all on their feet. Okay, I’ll do it!
The trouble was that I did not work very hard to achieve that end. I had a few voice lessons, entered some talent competitions, joined lots of choirs and ensembles each year in high school, participated in the Solo & Ensemble festivals and won spots in the Honor and Allstate choirs. However, I did not devote any time to practicing (scales? Ugh!) because I had other priorities. I was hoping to be one of the “discovered” stars. I guess I figured that if I was as good as everyone said I was, stardom would find me. Foolish girl!
I soon learned why this wasn’t a priority for me: I really didn’t want it. I knew that my better-than-average voice was not extraordinary, and I was not interested in doing more with it.
I outgrew that dream of stardom just in time for college, where I pressed on with my writing, something I began doing creatively at six years old (I still remember that silly first poem).
I’ve sung a lot since college in choirs, on worship teams and for special events. A thirty-something mother of six now, I have mostly lost my desire to sing publicly, and I’m okay with that.
I think it’s possible to outgrow a dream, especially if that dream was not yours in the first place.
© Alexa Lopez 2007
