My Box of Life

My precious, wise, and beautiful sister, Miss Peachy, came up with a delightful meme, My Box of Life, and she tagged me. And she couldn't have come up with a more purr-fect meme for Thanksgiving! *smile*

I'll open with the lovely quote by Mary Oliver, which Miss Peach used to introduce the meme:

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" ~ Mary Oliver

Mom loved the Mary Oliver quote so much that she put it on her writing blog.

Here are the rules for the Box of Life meme, as described by Miss Peach:

A SIMPLE BUT VERY IMPORTANT MEME: List your treasures and tag other kitties and their humans also, as many as you like. Let this reflection spread through out the world. We need to count our contentments as Blessings! What do you look back over and treasure enough to place inside your BOX OF LIFE?

The greatest of my treasures are made of love. I was a lucky furry, purry girlcat when I happened on my forever home. And that was about a year ago now, for I'll celebrate my First Gotcha Day on December 1! I showed up on Mom and Dad's back porch as a stray kitty girl, and they fell in love with me and I with them, and I became their third Ballicus. So into my Box of Life go Mom and Dad.

Here's me with my mom. She's a novelist and spends a lot of time at her computer (well, when she's not riding on the back of the Harley with Dad, or hiking in the mountains, *smile*). So when she's writing, I spend a great deal of time on her lap.



And here's me snuggling with dad. Like Mom, he's a wonderful snugglebug, and he gives great scritches, too.



Into my Box of Life I also put my brothers and my sister. Mom speculates that before I showed up on their back porch as a stray, I had always been an "only kitty." It was a challenge for me to adjust to living in a multicat home. But over time, I have learned not only to tolerate my siblings but to love them, and their love for me is one of my greatest blessings. I learn something new from them every day.

Brainball, our big Alpha Cat, has taught me a lot about being firm and kind, tough and gentle at the same time. He helps me keep my airy-fairy poetic girlcat paws rooted to earth when they need to be, albeit somewhat tenuously *smile*.



Dorydoo, my little sister, has taught me a lot about determination. She is brilliant! She amazes me with her will to figure out just about anything, her tenacity, and her indomitable spunk. And what a lovely little sister she is, too -- a gorgeous little House Panther. I'm so proud of her.



And MaoMao -- he makes me laugh every day! He's so much fun. He's intelligent, hilarious, and oh-so-endearing. He and I share nose-kisses on a regular basis, and when he joined us as Mom and Dad's fourth indoor kitty, I took to him quickly because he was still a kitten, and he made me nostalgic for my youth. Through MaoMao, I get to relive it!

Yes, in the picture which follows, MaoMao is sitting on top of the refrigerator, MAOing proudly about his accomplishment in getting up that high. And you know what, just today I noticed that MaoMao has grown bigger than me. He is growing up! My goodness. It brings a tear to my eye. He is a year and a half right now -- a fine young mancat -- and when he finishes maturing, he will be a fine mature mancat indeed.



One of my most treasured loves in my Box of Life is my heart's darling, my sweet, handsome, brilliant, poetic mancat Mickeybear. He makes me smile, he warms my heart, and I can't imagine not having his precious love and friendship in my life. Here he is, freshening up his floof *giggle*! He's the muse for my poetry, and our romance makes my heart sing.



Which brings me to yet another treasure in my box: poetry, the beauty and rhythm of words, the art and challenge of capturing, in only a few words, something that often lies beyond words, the crystallization of a feeling, an image, to render tangible, if only for a moment, the intangible; language as passion, language as love.

Also in my Box of Life: the wonderful family and friendships I have made on the Cat Blogosphere. The Cat Blogosphere is, bar none, the sweetest, most precious and supportive, most kind-hearted and fun place on the Internet. I am so glad I became a Blogging Kitty.

And now I am full-circle, for the greatest treasure in My Box of Life is life itself, for it is the great gift of life which enables me to experience these joys and treasures and blessings, life's great loves and its delectable small delights.

Life is poetry, in its rhythm it is poetry, it dances to its own rhyme. There are joys, there are sorrows, but they're all there for us to savor, to learn from, and to share with one another. And that is the greatest gift that life gives us: our capacity to love, our capacity to share.

Happy Thanksgiving to kitties who are celebrating it, and love and purrs to everykitty -- thank you for being cherished blessings in my Box of Life.

I will tag:

my darling Mickeybear
my BFSC Gretchen
my future sister-in-law Ariel