All day long I have been chewing on this Monday evening blog post that I do. We had sad news and I knew I needed to write about it but I wasn’t sure how. But about an hour before I sat down to work our news changed- and now this blog post will be celebrating the lesson we learned from our sad and worrisome couple of days.
The picture above is of our amazing cat Maxi. We adopted her and her sister Roxy when they were 7 weeks old. Oh my, they were the cutest kittens!
Maxi and Roxy could not be more different in their personalities. While Roxy happily lays in the closet all day, Maxi’s nickname is Aventure Kitty. She is always on the move. When we left NYC 6 years ago and made it to California we had a backyard for the first time. It didn’t take long for Maxi to hop the fence and go exploring. But she always came home.
But Saturday night she didn’t come home. Sunday morning there was still no sign of Maxi. We looked everywhere for her. We were a mess. We love Maxi and Roxy so much, we have had them for 10 years now and they are our first babies. By Monday morning the hope of Maxi returning home was fading fast.
Late Monday afternoon our son and I drove to the animal shelter about 40 minutes away. We were trying everything- maybe just maybe somebody had found her? No Maxi. We drove home with our hearts even heavier. I entered the house behind Jaxson. As I was hanging up jackets I hear Jaxson say- “Mama I hear cat noises”. I run to the foyer and there was Maxi’s little face in the window meowing frantically to get in! I let her in and then screamed so loud (out of happiness) that she darted away from me! Finally, she came out and purred against me. Maxi was dirty and a little thinner but seemed ok!
This is a picture of Greg when he came home from work seconds later. We were all over the moon with happiness! So grateful to have our Maxi home!
So what’s the lesson then? It’s not to keep Maxi indoors as some may think and suggested.
We know from living in an apartment while we were house hunting that when Maxi is kept inside she is miserable. Safe but depressed. Sunday night while Greg and I were starting to fear the worst we decided that if something had happened to Maxi while she was on one of her adventures that she lived a full and happy life. We knew in our hearts that letting Maxi be an outdoor cat was what made her thrive.
This afternoon I could not even be in the house because every time I saw her sister Roxy I started to cry. I headed out to run some errands and came across a wooden sign. It summed up so perfectly what Greg and I had talked about the night before. Maxi was enjoying her journey. Are there risks being an outdoor cat? YES! Where we live right now Rattlesnakes happen to be one of the scarier risks. But with great risks comes great pleasure- just like when we go surfing, skiing or even riding a roller coaster.
With our sweet Maxi home, our hearts are overflowing and our new sign will remind us that life is about enjoying the journey. It’s not about playing small and letting worries keep you from taking risks.
Thank you for coming home Maxi and thank you for the lesson! But please, keep coming home at night! We promise to let you out in the morning!
So sweet – Love this blog post!