The Prodigal Cat

In the genealogy of my household felines, the last in a long and illustrious line was April, a petite short-haired cat of black attire with a white star on her chest. Tracing her history through the matrilineal lineage, she was birthed by Sparkle, who begat three offspring: Lucky, the eldest male, a second Tiger cat who did not survive birth, and the delicate and skitterish April.

Alas, April lost her mother at an early age due to the vicissitudes of life as a cat in the Santa Monica Mountains - an environment seething with natural predators. Henceforth, our little Miss was the Cinderella of the household, "dissed" by her sibling and an uncle named Sugar, a fat cat who rarely vacated the prime spot on the master's bed and guarded it with a vengence.

The lonely and defiant April thus took to the outdoors for a good part of her adult life, showing up on the doorstep only several days out of every month or when a rain storm was imminent. For the next 19 years, her pattern remained consistent, and members of the human household engaged in hot debate as to whether she had another family or was a superb survivor of the wilds.

Although her whereabouts remained the object of speculation, a pet psychic did relay the following message from the wanderlust kitty when she was approximately 8 years old:

"My roaming is nothing personal. It's about me, not you. I appreciate that I'm always welcome at your house. I really enjoy visiting. Maybe someday, when I'm old and need a soft bed and easy food, I'll stay with you. I have lived the best life for me."

April, a few hours before transitioning

Our beautiful kitty passed away in the early morning hours of August 21, 2015, on the prime spot of her mistress's bed, surrounded by soft pillows and Love.

Born to Die

"Born to die" is not only an oxymoron but the most basic fact of living. As a teenager, an idea rolled around in my brain like a tumbleweed in a dust storm: all the effort we put into our physical, mental and emotional life seems to evaporate at the "end," a thought that caused me to lament a la Peggy Lee,"Is that all there is?"

The first inhale enters the body at the moment of birth and the final exhale marks the precise moment of death. This means that we have a precise, finite number of breaths before the Grim Reaper takes us on a joy ride.

What if there is a "breath counter" in the clouds who has a clicker and marks off each inbreath and outbreath until he says, "Time's up." Knowing thus, if we were informed ahead of time as to exact amount of breaths we had in a lifetime, how would we use them? 

When people say, "Don't waste your breath," maybe they are onto something. And when the teacher in your anger management class tells you to slow down your breath and inhale deeply, maybe that person realizes a thing or two about prolonging your preordained, allotted number of ins and outs!

If any of you want to live a little longer, then slow down, take deep, sweet inbreaths, then slowly let the air spill out into the deep blue sky and relax.

Real Political Correctness

After a month of silence, this blogger is galvanized to make an obvious point that Donald Trump seems to miss when he eschews "political correctness."

A phrase that has become the target of sardonic comments, "political correctness" originally meant that spewing vitriol against a rainbow of minority groups was not acceptable. "Politically correct" really means "public respect."

The frustration of certain American citizens has caused them to take on the role of cheerleader to Trump's low-brow mentality. However, his extemporaneous comments serve as a major distraction to the issues at hand. His frequent use of the word "loser" and other adolescence slurs have diverted attention to the very issues he claims to address.

If Trump were truly politically correct, he would focus on important issues instead of acting like a school-yard bully.

Conservatives were duped twice by Bush Jr. aka King George. (Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on me.) Luckily, Donald Trump has offended the religious right so no worries that they will float him into office. Once Trump went after Fox News, he lost that dame/game.

The news has turned into a Facebook-like nightmare and the American people will be the ultimate victims if Donald Trump's case of turrets remains front and center. Worse yet, the circus that is called pre-election campaigning portends a sad state for the prospect of decent leadership.