Cat Lady

Hello and welcome to a *yawn* sleepy Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is July 19th.

While my family has been away, I have become a cat lady.

The first thing I do in the morning when I come into the kitchen, even before I make my luxurious Mocha pot coffee, is let in the cats. Good morning!, I greet them as all three pad in and head straight to the food and water bowls. After they munch and I've got my fresh, hot brew, we all settle in the living room. Scrawny curls up on one end of the couch. She's the matriarch and doesn't like to be bothered. Little Kitty, who's not the matriarch but is bossy as all get out, takes my usual spot, the BAC (Big Ass Chair). And Fuzzy, our damaged-goods cat, who is mostly rehabilitated and accepts pats on the head and scratches behind the ear, finally accepts that I won't let him remove the Elsa & Anna blanket spread out on one of my two gold and maroon striped easy chairs, stops tugging on said blanket, and settles down. And me? I take the other gold easy chair. We're like the four points of a compass.

With no family to shore up the structure of my days (outside of work), I ease into my comfy seat and crack open the paperback I bought at the airport in Vienna, a psychological thriller, The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden. Yowza. I enjoyed her book The Teacher, and I revel in the thrill of a book that's got me snagged like a crappie on the end of a fishing line. Hook, line, and sinker. I'm in Part 2 and O.M.G. Don't tell me how it ends.

Meals consist of the following: Cocoa Pebbles (on sale), followed by Cocoa Dynobites (bigger bag also on sale), pizza, and chocolate. This rotation is fortified by an occasional egg (protein!), salad (vegetables!) and apple (fruit!).

My social life has included three outings. The first, with my COW ladies (#IYKYN) - something that only happens when Jill comes to town. (Next stop: Kenora to visit Leanne!) The second, a dinner at The Hawk with CK3 (College Kid #3) for three reasons: 1) CK3 was feeling somewhat shafted by his mother who he hasn't seen properly since July 4th. 2) Our family rarely/never goes out for dinner. 3) The thawed out meat in the fridge can wait another day because - well, because it can. And the third outing was a christening of my birthday present to me - a cribbage board created by a local artist featuring Lake of the Woods (which I bought at The Plaid Walleye) and a deck of Sota play cards  - with a friend and a beer at LOWBREWCO . 

Without the bustle of family and the needs of everyone else - what's left? I leaned in and listened to my house and discovered The Void. This exquisite nothingness left me free to float in space and time.

I relished this very, very deep quiet. I did some laundry, organized my bedroom. I read thought pieces, did some writing. With said cribbage board, I set up a little Minnesota homage spot in my living room along with a gorgeous card I put in a picture frame that featured some of Minnesota's famed folk figures including Paul Bunyan and Babe, Lucette, Big Ole, and even Willie Walleye. I was worried about jetlag, so I rested. I felt vastness in my mind and chest.

I think about all the time - years - go-go-going with kids and activities. Responsibilities. And I relish. Yes, relish. Like the cosmos, after expanding into their respective adventures and lives, in a few days everyone begins the return to home - to family. The older kids will return home, one by one, friends will visit - and then everyone will go-go-go again. The Void will be filled with final summer hurrahs before the return to Ordinary Time, the pendulum swing of school, work, activities - life.

So, yes. For today, I'll be a cat lady.