kindness and goodness

Much to report today.

First… on the kindness of strangers:

Beth has been commenting on my blog for a while and, admittedly, for months I got her mixed up with the other Beth and just threw up my hands unable to keep track. But then she emailed me and asked if she could send me something. And I, whore for all gifts, was thrilled. And then I actually figured out who she was and learned that she has a private, friends-only Live Journal but no blog and this is why I couldn’t keep her straight in my mind. I need people’s whole stories, you know? Anyway, I am getting it now.

So then this arrives:

The first thing I noticed was that it was made by the same brand as this fabulous French treehouse toy that Wes and I bought in an amazing toy store on "our" island (Ile St. Louis) in Paris during our extremely romantic week there in 2003. There, in that toy store, we vowed that our future child would have only gorgeous cloth and wood toys from stores like this one (I know, I know… all you moms out there just laughed so hard your beverages came out your nose… humor us a bit longer, K?).

How did Beth know? I mean, I know that we clearly come across as aesthete snobs on our two blogs, but still.

Of course, the main thing is the penguins. Do you see the cuteness of those penguins? In an airplane?! Traveling?! Our favorite thing?! Yes. It is amazing.

This is such an amazingly sweet thing. First I get the penguin from Trista and now the penguin plane from Beth. I am totally overcome by the kindness of you strangers. It is overwhelmingly touching to me and I can’t thank you enough.

Oh, and this is the first thing my little sister said when she saw it: "But there are 4 PENGUINS! We don’t want 4 PENGUINS in you!"
Indeed.

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I think most of you who have followed the saga have already seen and commented, but just in case, I wanted to point you all over to my dear friend LaGiulia, who got back amazingly good news on the Picchi front. And early news, at that – how often does a doctor call 2-3 days ahead of schedule!? Needless to say, when she called to tell me that it was benign, I felt such a huge relief wash over me it was mind-blowing. I can’t tell you how much Wes and I love those babies. If you haven’t already, go give her some more love. AND she and The Uomo and the boys are coming to the Cape with us this weekend!! So we get to dip the babies in the water and watch them pull up grass and swing with them in the hammock. Yay!

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Finally, on the super sad side of things:

My friend Melissa has always had sort of creepy psychic tendencies. Among other things, she always knew who to set me up with and whether things were going to work out with whoever I was dating. We have been friends for coming up on 17 years (holy crap!). She was there when my mother died, doing her creepy psychic thing. Her assistant in the creepy psychicness was my mother’s cat, Ace.

One night after my mom died, Melissa woke up (I may be getting the story mixed up – did Ace wake you up or just come sleep with you after?) and saw a light in the hallway. But there was no light on. Ace the cat immediately glommed on to her and just didn’t leave her after that. It became immediately clear that the two of them knew and saw things regarding my mom and her departing spirit. And also clear that they belonged together. Which was a relief because I had seven animals to find homes for!

So when Lissa graduated a few months later, Ace went to live with her. And he has been with her happily for the last 10 years.

We aren’t exactly sure how old Ace was, but I think it was at least 17. The same number of years we have known each other. He has been slowly and steadily declining, but he made the move to Ohio with them. He died suddenly last night at home.

We love you, Ace.

Just a footnote:
When my mother was pregnant with me, her cat Rasmussen died.
When Wes was pregnant with GMB, his beloved cat Rascal died.
A few months ago, Derek and Melissa’s wonderful cat Zock died.
And now Ace, very much Melissa’s cat but also once my own, has died.

I am so not new agey. But there are totally cat spirits at work here on the unborn.