 Yesterday I mentioned how my cat Betsy comes to work with me each morning.
This involves coming down from my house to my writing studio, The Writing Place. Both houses are on the same property, connected by some 60 steps. (People have counted them but I can't remember the exact number). Betsy is 21 years old. Sometimes I cannot believe she has been with me for so long. We have weathered many storms together. She was my constant companion during my first breast cancer diagnosis, resting with me every day while I managed the side effects of chemotherapy treatments. Her calm presence was such a comfort. She endured many years of alienation when my other cat, Little Boy, came on the scene and ousted her from her position of privilege in the household. LB was a stray who arrived one day and never left. He chased Betsy mercilessly and she took up residence on the roof, in the shed out back, or in the bush. I tried endlessly to bring her back into the house but only on the coldest winter days would she come in to be by the fire. LB passed on (he's out under the pink hibiscus now), Betsy has her home back and every day I think of everything I can to make her life a happy and comfortable one. In my last journal entry I also wrote about the stairs that Betsy has to negotiate when she comes to work. The photo is of the topmost section that leads up to my house. They are the toughest because they are large, uneven, high-rise steps. So I often carry her up these ones. It's a bit like this for everybody right now. We're facing the biggest hurdle with this virus, the highest and toughest steps, but there's light at the top. Some of us may need to be carried part, or all, of the way, and, a terrible and sad fact, some of us may not make it up there at all. I'm continually inspired by my cat Betsy. I guess that comes from us having been together for so long. She has toughed it out through the reign of terror that was Little Boy, weathered all the battles that cats do (other cats invading the territory, wounds and occasional sickness although she has been a very healthy cat, etc). She has given me, in her cat-ly way, so much love and companionship and if I can carry her up those last few steps every day, by golly, I will do it.
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