Slowing Down with a Sleeping Cat

Annie sleeping

At first light this morning, I opened my eyes and found Annie sleeping on my hand with her paw wrapped around my wrist. She had what I interpreted as a smile on her face, sleeping peacefully and melting my heart.  I couldn’t bring myself to move, as I’m sure you understand.

I felt her  warm breath against my hand, and looked at her little pink ears. I love the solid black stripe running down the middle of her back in between her tabby markings. She has surprisingly big paws for such a small cat and a sweet pink nose. The light coming in the window highlighted the caramel colors in her fur, and I thought about how Gracey had the same coloring.

Sleeping she looks angelic really but when awake she has a mischievous side I wouldn’t trade for the world. I thought about how lucky I am to share my life with her.

We put so many deadlines on ourselves and our lives seem to be getting busier and busier.  I wondered how many  tasks on the list  matter and whether I am imposing them on myself for no reason.  Don’t we all do that?

Mercy decided it was time for breakfast and woke Annie and Eddie, who was sleeping on Paul’s pajamas at the food of the bed. We all eased into our morning routine and I headed into my office with my coffee.

I thought about an article I read recently about the importance of being present and not mistaking doing for being.   The article refers to the Roman philosopher Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life. This 2,000 year-old writing  serves as a poignant reminder  of what we know but easily forget in our own lives today.

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it.

I am trying to spend time being present and saying no to obligations and tasks that are not  necessary or in some way rewarding. If that means I have more time to spend with the cats, then that is time well spent.