Annie The Surprise

 

I was telling Annie her baby story on Christmas day when she reached up and whopped me in the head. I guess she didn’t want to hear it. But maybe you do.

 

On the night of Wednesday, August 25, 2021, while four tiny, stray kittens gobbled up the cat food that I had gotten from a friend’s house on the way home from choir practice, I looked out the dining room window and saw the Mama Cat sitting under the rocking chair.

 

We made eye contact. She either meowed or hissed a me. I’m not sure which. I spoke to her through the window, told her that everything would be okay, and two nights later, after I had returned home from Final Friday at ARTWorks Vass, I picked up Mama Cat for the first time, spontaneously naming her Queen Antoinette, or Annie for short.

 

Annie was a teenage mom. When I look at her now, still not even a year old, still growing bigger each day, I cannot believe that she raised four kittens. She’s as happy as she can be as the fourth member of the Deaton Household, zooming through the house playing with bottle caps and strings, helping my dad with his calling posts each day, begging for endless supplies of food, curling up on various beds and sofas when she finally decides to sleep—which isn’t often according to most cat activity.

 

Looking back on that night when I first saw my pretty girl, I think she was meowing rather than hissing. When she meows, she does it with her whole body. She lifts her head, opens her mouth, and speaks. I think she was speaking to me when she saw me. And I think I spoke back what she needed to hear.

 

Annie Deaton was one of the biggest surprises of 2021.

 

Blackout poetry and water colors were the same.

 

What about you? What surprised you in 2021? What changed your life?

 

Oh God: 2021 was a tough year for so many. So much stress. So much sickness. So much death. So much heartache. In the midst of it all, You were there. In cats’ meows. In dogs’ barks. In art. In music. In coffee. In hugs. As we hold the weight of it all, help us to balance the load with light, and laughter, and love. Go with us as we enter a new year. And help us to be met with good surprises that change our lives in positive ways. You are the biggest surprise we could ever hope for. Thank you. Amen.