A CAT CLEANS UP
Once again I am sitting elegantly on my hand embroidered cushion at the window and looking into the garden of our chic „upper class cabin“, while I allow myself the luxury of reflecting on the past few days and weeks. Today I am playing the tourist in the place I live. There are nooks and crannies that I don’t know yet. I simply start out and go on a journey of discovery…
The turn of the year this year was really challenging. Champagne, caviar and breath-taking fireworks, which nearly cost me my hearing and subsequently gave me a matt coat, had my stress level escalating into deep red.
Our pad was packed and as loud as an airport at the start of the holidays. One could see how little my can opener was troubled by all the attentiveness by the fact that he refused to believe that the whole world was crying out for deceleration and not for packing the hut full of 100 totally unknown friends of friends. I hate noise and I hate noisy pseudo merry people even more.
„No person is replaceable. Each one of us is made up of wonderful small details“, I add this thought, not entirely convinced, into a thought bubble that is hovering above me, but straight away there’s a loud „Plop“, the vision bursts and I see Adam in front of me. He is sitting on his new meditation cushion with a mad look in his eyes among a mountain of senseless presents while abusing my sensitive hearing with the nerve-racking sound of squeaking cellophane and listening to „Barry White whining“. I can picture George Michael turning in his grave!
I bare my claws! Why do human beings define everything and everyone through material possessions?
What makes us different from others is not what we receive but what we do with that which we have. (Nelson Mandela)
Why is he so attached to all this plunder, when it’s all about giving and receiving love. „We only buy things to distract ourselves, instead of creating order in our heads.“ I retracted my claws and clicked with my paw. Instead of constantly clinging to material possessions, we should do a desert run or clear out the attic. Suddenly everything appeared completely logical – if he couldn’t let go – I could! I began by clearing out the previously mentioned attic. Generations of meaningless presents, boxes with photos, books that were never read, clothes that had long gone out of fashion, yes even presents that had never been unpacked flew through the little skylight into the garden.
When I had finished with the attic, I continued downstairs. Adam’s walk-in closet, the shelves and cupboards emptied themselves noticeably. I became increasingly lighter inside with every piece that flew out the window. Finally it was the turn of the table clothes, curtains, cushions and the entire teak elephant collection. All Adam’s baggage, which had accumulated over the years, piled up in the garden to a formidable, flammable heap. Our previously luxurious house, decorated in Versace style, had been transformed into a barren monk’s cell, which desperately needed a touch of colour.
In a trancelike state I finished the job by tipping a litre bottle of lighter fuel over the whole heap making a really large, liberating bonfire! I felt it, the lightness on my skin. I felt free. Letting go was glorious! The fresh breeze stroked over my shiny fur, I felt needed!
The next memory is Adam, standing beside me and desperately trying to extinguish the blazing and smoking heap with the garden hose! I hear him call desperately: „For God’s sake tomcat, what have you done?“
And I answer: „Let go mate, you are loved for who you are! Aren’t you?“ Miaow!