How Do They Know?

It happened again! I don't know why it happens, it just always does. Jarell came in the house with a big smile on his face and said, "Hey Where did that little kitten come from?"
Of course I just looked dumb and said "What?"
"That yellow kitten on the front porch. Where did it come from?"
"Oh no! Not again." This I just thought to myself. Out loud I said,"Don't touch it! Don't feed it! It doesn't live here. If we just shun it, it will go away and find another place to live!"
"It was eating out of the cat bowl, Mom. I think it's hungry."
"Just come in the house and leave it there. Maybe it will leave."
"But Mom look, it's friendly. And it's purring."
"You're not shunning it. What is it doing in the house? Why did you pick it up? Don't you know what it means to shun. It means ignore it. Don't pay it any attention."
"OK mom." He puts it down in the middle of the living room. There are five people in the room. The yellow kittens jumps up on the couch and climbs onto my lap and then climbs up by my face, curls up and lies down. I can feel the vibration as it purrs.
"Remember mom, we're shunning it. Just ignore it. It will go away." Jarell snickers and then goes to get his brothers to come see.
They come up and they are all laughing. "Let's call it Mat. It stands for Most Awesome Tiger."
"You can't name it! It's going to be leaving soon!"
"Yeah, we can see that Mom. Hey, Mat you're a cool cat."
"Jarell, get the camera. It will be fun,"
"Joel don't encourage him."
"Oh I'm not mom, we just might need a picture of the cat for when it leaves, so we can remember it."

"Mom can put it on her blog." This from Jarell.
I look down at the kitten curled up sleeping. I hope it's a boy. They like to wander off when they get older. Anyway two cats is enough. We don't need any more. He is kind of cute though. I can still feel the vibration as he purrs. Does he know his fate is being decided as we sit here?
Of course he does. Just like all the other strays that we've had over the years. And how do they know that I'm a pushover?

Brian and Brock

When I was a teenager, Linda and Lloyd adopted Brian when his older brother was just 6 months old. Having 2 little boys so close together as well as two other little kids was sometimes overwhelming and I did a lot of babysitting and cleaning to help out Linda. Later, Brian was in our Blazer class and also one of Dan's scouts. What a fun time that was. He was the one who always came up with new things to try and fun ways to challenge the teachers (us). It was fun to watch him as he grew up and went on a mission and got married. When he married Suzie and they began raising their family right next door, it was a joy to watch the man he had become as he spent time with his little family playing, working and loving them. As a neighbor he always had a wave and a smile for us. His jokes and his sense of humor livened up our lives.

It was with disbelief that we learned he died in a plane crash this week. I hurried over to Suzie's to give her a hug and see if there was anything I could do. Sometimes life just hits us in the face and we have to pick ourselves up and try to go on. Lloyd was at the house comforting Suzie and the kids. He gave Suzie a blessing and the spirit in that home was so strong. I just knew that Brian was there watching over them. His son Brock is in my Primary class. He reminds me of Brian when he was that age. I asked Brock if he wanted a blessing too. He just looked up at me and said, "I'm not sick! I'm going to go play at my friends!" I hope Brock always has that great attitude. He's a real character and I hope he challenges me and his other teachers just like Brian did and turns out to be a man just like his dad!