August 3, 2018 – Funny that, I do the same thing.

         I moved away from home when I got married and never lived within driving distance to my parents all those years as we moved from one company to another.  I kept in contact with letters and phone calls and the occasional air flight home.

         It was always an eye opener when I went home, sometimes it was a gap of two years or more.  My parents would scrutinize me as I did them.  I’d see less hair on Dad and more white in Mom’s hair.  They’d see me older and the same, but somehow changed.

         After the shock of how small my parent’s home, [my childhood home] was compared to my own home, I would look around and see the new and different touches Mom had made since my last visit.

         As they got up in years, I noticed one amusing note by the back door in her handwriting, “money, keys, spectacles, teeth?”  It made me smile and I even heard a comment or two from visiting relatives and friends.  To me, it was only amusing and I thought to myself, ‘I will be there someday.’

         Today I realized – I am there . . . and have been for a while, but I only really noticed it today.

         I remember on mirrors or on back of bedroom doors I would notice little snippets of news articles or magazine articles taped up here and there.  One newspaper clipping was “The best time to view the little dipper” taped to the back of the bedroom door where I would sleep on my visit.  I knew it was meant for me. 

My Mom had taken some of those glow in the night stars that you apply to ceilings in kids rooms and had made a perfect “little dipper” on the mirror  that hung in my old bedroom.  When I visited, I had to apply my mascara and lipstick around or between it.  Once it was there, I always looked for it when I returned home.  My hands would toss my luggage on the waiting bed, but my eyes immediately went to the mirror to verify the celestial dipper was still there.

         Yes, I do the same thing.  There are now more noticeable clippings and quotations taped up in my home.  No, I don’t have the ‘money, keys, spectacles, teeth?’ posting yet at the back door, but I’ll have to admit, I pronounce aloud my check list when I grab my purse to leave, “glasses, license, money, keys, lipstick, phone.”  I travel light with a small purse and those six items are the essentials. In the winter, I add, cough drops.

         This morning I paused longer looking at the little 3 x 3 clipping from the May 2015 issue of Shape.Com.  It is the left lower corner of page 140 and there is a white couch with just the ears and eyes of a grey pussy cat looking over it at the you.  In large font 37% is imposed on the white part and below is:

“Amount by which cat

owners are less likely to

die from a heart attack

than non-cat owners are.”

         It is stuck on an inside hinge of my medicine cabinet where no one can see - but me.  When I open the cabinet, I read it and paused.  Yes, I own one of those cats.

         I have the type of cat that will give me that 37% advantage.  She is:

The kind of cat that will jump into your lap

when you are having a rough day.

A cat that greets me at the back door

like you’ve been away on vacation

instead of grocery shopping.

A cat that crawls on my chest early in the morning

and tells you she is “hungry and you can’t lounge in bed

because it is not good for either of you”.

A cat that knows when I am sick,

sidles up beside me, and presses against me

when I need to be cherished

instead of the other way around.

A cat that sits and watches and guards

the storm door at night

while I take the dog out in the dark

for his business.

She’ll go back to bed

once I come in safely.

On more than one occasion, I’ve mentally wondered if she could sound the alarm if I didn’t come back.

A cat that sprawls out in my easy chair

and gives me that look –

“You’ve done enough, it’s time for you to pat me”.

         What other little treasures do I have taped up?  They are as corny as my Mom’s, but still they are out in the open for the world to see.

         Enjoy life now . . . it has an expiration date. [On the mirror by the back door where I verify I have lipstick on as I leave.]

         “The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves.”  [Taped to the side of an armoire and not readily noticeable, but I glance at it when I need to give myself a reality pinch.]

         “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.”  [This one is posted in several places and I must admit – it is not working, as it should.]  It should help me lose weight, but I usually read it aloud when I see it and then I answer myself back aloud. “If only things actually tasted that good, I would be thin because I would eat less of them!”

         If you have a cat, you are with me at 37% advantage, but if you also have affirmations, information, quotations, or instructions posted – I think you are just like my Mom, and that I say is a good thing.