Cat Tales

Has Beau Bear Gone to that Great Storm Drain in the Sky - or Not?

Beau Bear's left haunch was obviously suffering . He was limping, eating at his leg, twitching, and occasionally had a full body spasm. His inability to walk on his hind legs increased. X-Rays and blood tests resulted in him showing up as healthy as a kitten - a fine feat for an old man of a cat!! 

Nevertheless, he got to the point where I would have to pick him up and take him to his litter box, take him to his food bowl, take him to his hidey hole, and put him on my lap.

While de-fleeing the house one Sunday, I had him on the chaise on  the porch with me. Not fearing that he would run off, I let him rest on the chaise.  Out of nowhere he leaped off the chaise, tore down the stairs, across the lawn, up the street, and climbed down into his favorite place - the storm drain on the corner. A bright white light seemed to be surrounding him.

He was gone for at least two weeks, when I got a call in California that Beau Bear had come home, none the worse for wear. He left again and returned three days later when I got home. I kept him in the house to observe him. He appeared to have improved. When I put him outside, he didn't tear off, rather hung around his two mates -Bo Cephus and Bo Tres. He came back at night, rather skittish, left, and hasn't been seen since.

I hope he isn't in the storm drain because it has been raining "cats and dogs' for three days.

Maybe his behind will heal and he won't be traveling along like a rabbit without a hop.

Maybe he has left this earthly plane, but returns occasionally in hopes of one more boiled shrimp.

Maybe he has gone into hiding to spend his final days gracefully and peacefully.

I have also wondered if perhaps his return visits are my denial defenses and chronically overstimulated imagination caused by missing him so much it hurts. 

He has been my "main man" for many years. When I die, perhaps my ghost will hover, too. People will talk of sightings of the old broad on Lake Street, calling for her beloved Beau Bear in the dark of the night from the railing of her porch!!!

Tell me a cat tale!

Trees

Along side the labyrinth at Mercy Center, is this tree. It has two eyes .

This account was not my first encounter with the healing energy of trees, but it was the first time in years.

Trees have reminded me that I am never alone many times and in many places. One time, I was way out in  the villages in Kenya when a hail storm came out of nowhere. No one came out of their mud hut to welcome me in, so, I ran for the nearest tree and stood as close to it as I could get - hugging it for dear life. with my cloth over a basket on my head. A short time there after, I was welcomed into a home to dry before the fire. 

Recently, the day after the end of a retreat I led in California, I walked the labyrinth with the intent of having a serious dialogue with Higher Self - the Mystery of Life - the Universal Presence - God. Name it what you will, we were going tohave a serious talk that morning about its long leave of absence from  my life. 

I wove in and through the great maze when I came to the tree on the outer edge. I stopped in my tracks and starred at the tree. Much to my surprise, the tree began to speak - in that still small voice, of course - but the message was loud and clear. 

Two limbs had been sawed off so they wouldn't impede the path of the labyrinth. The scars looked like eyes. The tree expressed this severing as being its primal wounding, that place which appears to be too painful to ever heal - and this tree bore two. 

Yet, this tree, described the honor it felt to be able to stand solid, growing deep roots, endlessly reaching for the sun, and yearly adding a ring of priceless experience to its girth, learned from peering through those two eyes on its trunk. 

"The wounds are my gift", it said, "to those who walk this path of healing."

I thanked the tree from the center of my heart, and continued the circular walk back and forth on the labyrinth there at Mercy Center, in Burlingame, CA. 

Remember a story where a tree was a channel for your own healing. Share it with me, please.

 

Reunion Realities

Photo by Caroline Truslow - the first buds of Spring 2011

The reunion of myself and my daughter could have turned out many ways. We reunited a year ago in April and have told about everyone we know about this joyous moment in our lives.


Who we are now, what we do now, and where we are now is the way it is. We each are totally free to decide how to relate to the way it is now.

The possibility is always there to say a great big "Yes" on the presentation of new reality.

 It is also possible to keep your head hidden in the sand and smother your life away.

How do you decide to relate to new reality which radically shifts your understanding of the way life is?