new mom

Last week I had a fur baby, which is unusual considering I didn't even know I was pregnant. What's a fur baby you ask? This guy:

This guy had been hanging around my block, walking neighbors to their doors, letting the elderly give him pets, and greeting me on my walk home with friendly meows.

It wasn't until I spent a day outside in the garden, with intermittent visits from him, that I decided it was time to help a cat out. He let me pick him up in a beach towel and walk him papoose style three blocks to the vet. Whereupon he made quite the impression with his cool, calm, and collected attitude. The vet confirmed he was in good enough health to bring indoors for a night, ie no fleas. They also found that he had a microchip, but sadly his owners never registered him.

Upon walking back he scurried out of my arms and back onto the streets. A neighbor shouted, "Hey! That's that cat!" from a car. Someone on the sidewalk commented they had just fed him earlier that morning.

I found him later sleeping under a motorcycle. After a few minutes of watching him from my stoop I called him over, he bounded over and happily followed me inside to check out the potential living quarters. I fed him some premium cat food and the rest is history. He's living in the lap of luxury - here he is just 3 hours after being inside:

We spent a few days trying dead ends to reach the previous owners to no avail and finally took him to the vet for a complete check out.

And so the naming of the cat begun:
Bob Marley
Barley
Cowboy
OJ
Dog
Francis
Phineas
Porter
Zeke
And finally Ziggy.

Did I mention Mr. RaeChild and I are not "cat people"?! Just goes to show you how a little fella can melt your heart and change your identity.

Here's to celebrating my first Fur Baby Mother's Day with Banana Bread French Toast in bed. Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful little people + fur baby mamas out there!

it's not everyday

it's not everyday, 

you have a friend untamed, unschrouded in convention,

just like you never will but almost can't be.

it's not everyday.

it's not everyday,

you get the call you imagined might happen,

except it's not at all what you'd expected.

it's not everyday.

it's not everyday,

the friends, the family, the impact you let go so long ago,

inherit back in with no time at all.

it's not everyday.

it's not everyday,

you find your friend in the halo of your dreams,

wake up to see him in your coffee.

it's not everyday.

it's not everyday, 

you have to stand up for your friend, find the words to explain,

that everyday will no longer be a day like anyday.

its not everyday.

it's not everyday, 

you had a friend whos sailed the green sea,

to return into it.

it's not everyday.

I had a friend that would walk with me looking at shop windows trying to help me decide what RaeChild would someday be. That was many years ago now, but the dream has always pursued me. Still undecided but enthused, I'm going to write my way out of missing this friend (never), while celebrating life's impossibilities and careful nuances. Through my eyes, with strength, courage, and God willing, some grace.

xoRR

“I made a promise, Mr Frodo. A promise! ‘Don’t you leave him Samwise Gamgee.’ And I don’t mean to! I don’t mean to.”

— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings