A Patch of Sun

Raven from Massachusetts

My mother loved all animals and we always had cats, dogs or a rabbit in our home. One grey cat was extremely smart and when it needed to go outside it sat on its haunches and meowed.  "Just like a dog," my father would say, "not the meowing but the sitting up."  One cute kitten I liked was all white with blue eyes. I like kittens but somehow the grown up cats are too independent for me. I wonder what is going on behind their sometimes round or narrow slit eyes. Whenever I had a nightmare, it always involved cats.  Maybe that is why a cat is not my favorite pet.


Even though I am not a cat person, lately it seems as if I understand cats a bit better now than in the past. Every day around 3:30 to 4:00 in the afternoon, sunlight comes streaming in my front door. It  is just a small patch of sunlight, but enough to cheer me up and to warm me. For half an hour everything is right with the world. I either look at my neighbor's tree across the street, close my eyes and day dream or read as I soak up those golden rays!

It is strange that I had never noticed the sunlight in that certain area, but now that I am in a wheelchair, I have found the sunny spot. I have seen cats on window sills, in the sun, dozing or grooming themselves. It always looks as if the cat in the sun is very content. Now, I understand how they must feel because I also enjoy basking in my patch of sun every day.

"If there is one spot of sun spilling

onto the floor, a cat will find it 

and soak it up."

Joan Asper McIntosh