Finally on the Road! The Acatemy Spring Symposium

I'm finally at a conference!  The Lady of Cats spend a lot of time swearing at the laptop screen because logging in from a new location wiped out her saved log-in and she had to change a bunch of passwords to find her way into the blog. She'd hoped to have me blog right before the conference, but now she says we'll be late to registration if I do. And she doesn't want to miss out on the cat ears, she says.  I didn't realize having cat ears was aspired to by those who don't have them.

Cats die. People aren't sure what to do.

I was going to talk to the Lady of Cats about a conference I found online while she was at work, but while she was cleaning cat boxes and washing bowls, she received a Facebook message that made her look quietly at the screen for a very long while.  She cleaned some more, and then came back and looked again.  Then she picked up the phone.

The Facebook message had said just "Hi, can we talk?"  And a phone number.

I listened while the Lady absently walked over to the couch and sat down, wedging me into the corner of her elbow. After a while I could tell that the caller was someone who had adopted a cat from her many long years earlier.  "Jack" was very ill with kidney disease and tonight would be his last night. The caller wanted to talk to someone while she sat with Jack, on his last night.  This was the first time my Lady has spoken to the adopter in over 10 years.

I didn't realize this was something cat Ladies did. I didn't realize that there was that kind of gentle but strong bond between Ladies and their adopters.  But listening, I learned that it was part of the story of ladies who rescue cats.

It was a very long conversation, and very kind, and very sad, yet very happy. Jack had taught many children, and even adults, to love cats.  I overheard many stories of Jack's life.  The adopter felt she was making the right decision. Jack no longer wanted to eat. He was skinny and weak. But still, just the other day he caught a mouse!  How do you decide when to let a cat go?  One thing the Lady said struck me. She said "You know, there is never a right time to let a cat go. There is only 'a little too soon' and 'a little too late.'  You might always wonder if your cat might have had a day or two more if you let him go a little too soon. But if you let him go a little too late, we are always haunted by the cat's pain or distress and will ache because you didn't help him sooner. So you can only make your best guess for your friend. They let you know when it's time to go, but because you love your cat you won't want to believe it. You will never be certain, until your friend is in distress. So better to be a few hours too early than a few hours too late."

The caller couldn't imagine coming home to an empty house with no one to care for. She wondered if it was wrong to want to rescue a new cat so soon after letting Jack go, or even talk about it before he was gone.

I don't think so. I think that if there is hole in your heart, and you want to fill it, you should.  Some people need to keep the hole empty, to honor who they have lost, for a time.  I understand this, too.  But others want to fill the hole right away, because the one they just lost had showed them just how valuable a loving heart is.  Some people don't want to come home to a house with shadow memories of their cat. They want another cat to play with the shadows, and wind them all up in purrs, and remind them how much they loved before, and can love again.

The caller was very kind to my Lady.  I think the call seemed to remind my Lady of what used to be important to her, in rescuing cats.  She had told me she had been doing this a long time, and worried she was forgetting how rescue truly mattered.  After she hung up the phone, she smiled very softly and very sadly, and spent a lot of time looking at old stories and photos on her blogs.

Then she hugged me, and put me down. She picked up a big, young orange cat and gave him a strong but gentle hug.  She set him down and walked away.

This is not what I expected to learn today.


(Return to my Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/wikithewonderingcat )

Wikipedia. I'm kind of glad I didn't get the "pedia" part of the name

The Lady explained that originally she wanted to name me Wicket but that there were several already-famous Wicket cats on the internet. Then it occurred to her she could keep the name she loved but call me Wiki for short, because wasn't that what I was going to be? A Wiki for cats? So while she was scooping cat boxes (thank goodness I don't need one of those) she lent me her laptop and I checked out Wikipedia.

I didn't realize a lot of websites were like stuffed animals. They survive off of love.  When the Lady was a kid, her parents subscribed to the Encyclopedia Americana and they paid for each volume that was sent to them, for a full set of encyclopedias. But now we have the internet, and encyclopedias in hardcover have died. Still, to survive, it looks like the online versions of knowledge need money.

I don't have any money. I don't even have clothes yet, other than what I arrived in via the Amazon box.  The Lady said she wasn't sure about giving me access to her PayPal account, but she showed me how she was making a $20 donation to Wikipedia via credit card so I didn't feel so odd poking around to see what a "Wiki" really was.  When I searched around, it doesn't seem like Wikipedia is broke, but since I'm going to be using their search, and I'm named after them, it doesn't seem like $20 is too out of line.  It's a big bag of cat food. So the donation is feeding my Wikipedia appetite for a bit of time.  The Lady explained that a lot of what I will be doing is explaining to readers what they should look for when they donate online themselves. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that, but I'll start with Wikipedia and we'll see.

My first day out

The Lady spent some time on Facebook with an artist who knits and sews this morning. Apparently I need clothes for traveling. I think she understands that I can't really get cold or hot, but people who care a lot about other humans, animals, and various critters apparently find it difficult to draw a hard, fast line at non-living things that look like critters as well.  Although she knows I don't mind going outside without a covering, it made her feel better to provide me with one so she wrapped me in an infinity scarf that was a gift from a friend.  She said that gifts, as well as clothing made by people we know, warm us in a different, better way, than mere clothes.

I now live in a land of trees and water.  The climate here is changing, I'm told. Although it's winter, there is no snow, and the Lady told me that it's unusual for there to be this much water in the streams at this time of year. Still, the sound of it is beautiful.

The wondering begins

I finally was moved from a big container of toys just like me, to this way-too-large packing box with another product. I understand from the Clowder-mind that toys like myself are often made in far-off factories.  I rolled around in the box for a long while until the Lady of Cats opened it up and took me out.

I understood that a lot of toys like myself were meant to be the friends of children, but the Lady of Cats explained that my life in the sunlight was going to be a bit different. She assured me she had lots of child left in her, and I would be loved. However, I was also going to travel, have adventures, and share what I learned with others. Lots of other people would be involved in my life in the sunlight, too.  And maybe, just maybe, the stories I told would make a lot of difference for the animal I had been cut, stuffed, sewed, boxed, and shipped, to represent. The cat.

I'm not sure what this all will mean. From the Clowder-mind I know that some toys never leave their new homes at all, and unless their children take them out to play, they may never see more than a shelf or bed, nor ever look out a window. The Lady of Cats assures me I will be going many places. In fact, I am her New Year Resolution. She has named me Wiki, because I will be learning things, and giving answers, and others will be helping.

She had some cheese and wine after counting down the New Year online with some virtual folks at Times Square. She fed the remainder of the cheese to Macavity the cat, and a dog whose name I don't yet know.  She set me on the couch, and Macavity and I sat together all night.

I think I'll be OK even if my felt eyes do look perpetually surprised. The lady assures me that over time I'll look more relaxed.