(no subject)
Last night I had way too good a dream not to share.
So yesterday, St. Patrick's day, would have been my cat Pixie's birthday, had she not passed in November. Sparked by this, and I suppose the lengthy disscussion about our cats at dinner last night, I had a surprisingly whimsical dream in which all the neighborhood cats gathered together to hold a very nice funeral/memorial service for her. I remember the dream starting (as much as you can remember the start of a dream, since I had another one last night in which "I" was an unknowingly pregnant, widowed Cinderella trying to comfort the Prince's little sister because the day after the wedding night the very reckless Prince went and got himself killed falling off a ladder. The local newspaper told the whole tragic story in the form of a comic book... have no idea where that one came from...) ....right, starting the dream finding a cat in the backyard that looked remarkably like Pixie, in the same area where she is buried. I almost want to say that for a bit of the dream it was supposed to be her, but it pretty soon became clear (or dream retconned) that it wasn't because this cat had a black chin, not white. It was warm, and the cat looked thirsty, so I went to grab a bowl and a jug of water so it could drink.
So around this point I became aware that the neighborhood cats were all about to hold their own funeral service for Pixie. It apparently was quite the custom that they always honor the dearly departed members of the cat community with a special ceremony. The other cats were already starting to arrive from all over, one by one. We humans would be welcome to attend and observe the service. I suppose the neighbors who lived behind us (who in RL I've never met) noticed the gathering, and looking over the wall asked if they might join as well. Sure!
As the cats waited for all the others to arrive, I did notice that they all sat in the same peculiar fashion. They sat with their hind legs beneath them, their faces hiding behind their front paws, in a position that was very reminiscent of prayer. Most were resting alongside the walls, while another group were arranged in a bit of a semi-circle towards the front of the room. There were some rambunctious kittens running about, and a rather large, fluffy, cream-colored cat grabbed at one of the kittens (memorable because the kitten was bright purple) and forcefully sat it down it down next to him. (to the effect of, "Settle down, ye young whippersnapper! Show some respect!") Part of the memorial service would include the cats singing songs, including some very special ones that I had the impression would be quite musical stage worthy. (A cat funeral, more than anything, was more a celebration of life than a sad, mourning of death. Ah, man I wish I remembered the name of the main song.) I realized, then, that my other cat Smokey wasn't there, since she is an indoor cat and the service was outside, so I quickly left to got get her since it only seemed appropriate for Smokey to attend (and maybe even sing a song for the ceremony. Smokey would be quite the diva, I imagine.) Unfortunately she wasn't being very cooperative when I tried to pick her up, and for some reason was wearing a gorgeous bright red collar.
About here is where the dream rather faded off. I suppose then I missed the main ceremony, but got enough of an impression (as one does in dreams) of what was going to happen during the funeral service of this almost secretive, mysterious Cat culture. I swear this was the thing of children's stories, and if I had any talent I might write it.
Yeah, I love my cats, can't you tell?