March 1 and March 2 reflections & memories

Today I am thinking of my cats Oliver and Owen, who were born on or near this day, 15 years ago. I am also thinking of other dearly-beloved mammals that are, or were, in my life.

When I brought my current old-lady cat Coco home, as a 10-week-old, Owen (half a year older) stopped dead in his tracks, when he first saw her. I didn't know if Owen was going to attack Coco - but instead they immediately started to develop a profound love relationship.

Owen was possibly the most loving cat I ever knew - but every cat I knew well was quite loving! [Owen died in 2012. Oliver died in 2023.]

So, these days, I feel a diffuse pain of "things missing to me, that I once had and loved" - as well as the somewhat diffuse and not-yet-completely-discerned pain of what our peopled world is becoming, and already is (and becomes increasingly revealed).

I judge that I'm having a hard time managing my several levels of cognitive dissonance - and I also guess that others struggle, in similar fashions - and we must all press on, anyway, even as things are or may become (?).

Dissociation is useful, for a while. But I think it only hides any call to action that one might be avoiding.

I'd like to know how you feel about current human affairs, too. And / or: you could tell me about mammals you have loved.

To end with a positive reflection, I'm also thinking of Hulda Faleide, who was born on March 2, 105 years ago. I think she was a wonderful, caring, hardworking, upstanding, helpful member of her family and of every one of her larger communities (!). I'm so pleased that I had the long-term privilege of being acquainted with and cared-for by Hulda. I loved her and respected her, and I thought Hulda made a wonderful role model for very many. Hulda also had an enjoyable, dry sense of humor, which one could regularly look forward to.