spilling my guts out for the first time

I haven't edited yet, but am posting this anyhow.

Okay, this is one of the reasons I used to give myself for NOT starting a blog in the first place. Because I am afraid I will put too much out there, expose myself for all to see/read. Papa feels eeven stronger than I do about personal privacy. Does anyone else feel unsure about that? Used to a great deal of privacy, then deciding to offer an element up to the rest of the world.....
I don't subscribe to People Magazine but I do occasionally look at the covers in the supermarket, and have been known to pick one up at the Dr.s office when I should be reading my copy of George WA' s world ot SOTW vol. 3, both tucked in my bag, " Who the hell are all these people, and why is the fact they are in this magzine important?", I ask myself. I have never had any desire for fame, if it means lacking for privacy. Once an introvert, always and introvert, I guess.
So that being said.......

Whoever would have thought I'd be spilling my guts on the internet, giving intimate details of my life to strangers, to share a story-poem about my cat.

Maximum Cat

I remember when you were born.
It was a warm summer evening, a very different lifetime ago.
I was having 20 grandmals a day at that point,
which as I think about it, now seems a tad ironic.

The Not Yet Papa rescued your mama two or three weeks before you were born.
I chse you played all the time, and it made me smile, which helped me back then.
You were the littlest runt and the biggest troblemaker
of the four little kittens Hoover had on the fouton.

You escaped your box, and hid under the crates at Safeway when I was trying to find you a home. You never mewed, but rather myrourackxxed,
and it rather sounded like a sqeaky, drawled out Maaxx, which
was how you and I talked together for 17 years.

You were best friends with the dog named Lewis,
whose dog house you visited on a regular basis.
She and I would walk to the bridge in Verlot, a mile from the cabin,
and you would walk behind Lewis.

When we moved to the crackerbox in the city,over the Fourth of July,
you, Hoover, and feral Ozzie ran off to the woods for three days. Ozzie stayed, and
a move to the burbs was quite a change for you and your mama.
When Lewis died, you would follow me with the Boy in the sling ten whole blocks.
I always thought you were so adventurous and brave.


Sometimes I think you liked this forever home best of all.
You chatted with me while I built the garden, watched the kids playing
from the landing of the treehouse. and sat on the rockpile
in Papa's cottage garden, sleeping away the warm suns of Autumn.

I remember when one kid or the other would tell me in sleepy delight,
That you were at the foot of his or her bed when he or she awoke.
The kids loved you so much, they made you a stocking.
And always insisted there was something in it.

I'll end my descriptions of you here for now, because those are the things I want to remember. On this Christmas soon arriving, I will be thankful, for seventeen wonderful years
with the little round black feline whose nickname was Max.
Remember, that's short for Maximum Cat.

A special note to all of you on the WTM boards who took the time to read my posts about Max, and who shared their stories of their beloved pets. Thank you for being there and caring. I find it truly amazing that I find such support in what I can only describe as an invisible community. It may be intangible, but the caring, thoughtful support of so many diverse people, is truly an amazing thing. My invisible friends, as I affectionately call you in real life, are able to show true caring and giving natures to each other, whether it is helping each other through the death of a spouse, or the death of a pet. The miscarriage, the learning difficulties of our kids, and the stress as well as the joy of being the best parent we can be. I am truly blessed to know you in real life, whether it be in person or onscreen.

I tried to post to each of you individually, but each time I read a post and try to respond, I would drop tears on the keyboard. It has been an emotional couple of days, on a few different emotional levels, and I was just so touched by the stories.

Papa is on his way home, each of us has written something we want to say, and thanks to the tips from everyone on how to deal with the kids, we are doing well. Thanks so much.
LB