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Monday, May 14, 2012


Just the Three of Us

The night before my brother Robert flew in from Philadelphia, I said to Drago, the brother I live with, "It will be the first time it has been just the three of us." Drago said, "Well, it is just the three of us." I don't know if I gulped, or if my jaw dropped, or even if my expression changed, but I was taken aback.  I'd been mulling over things differently-that Robert's wife wasn't coming this time, because she's been helping their daughter with her new baby girl, that there had been all combinations of people in our family together for visits, but that, going back as far as I could remember, Drago, Robert and I had never been just us.  Mom, Dad, and our youngest brother Ric, have all died-Mom in 2006, Ric in 2008, and Dad in 2010. Hellava decade, from our small, immediate family perspective.  So, there it was again, while chatting with my brother over chicken, salad, and baked potatoes. Loss. We taste loss so many times, don't we? And, it comes to us flavored differently each time, doesn't it?

Nonnie, Drago and Robert


But, enough of that! Our visit rocked. Dining out, cooking in, walking the pier, a bit of shopping, watching the Borgias, yoga, reading our various books in various recliners, fine talks about the good, the bad, the stupid, and kittens! A stray cat had 5 kittens in our back yard. Drago, who got to discover them (wish it had been me) is happy about it but trying to stay detached,  and I'm a fool in love; a complete idiot. We did promise Robert, the most concerned bird lover of our threesome, that we'd get them adopted so that they'd be house cats-Robert's gone back to Philly, but we'll keep our promise. They are tiny, and we don't have to do anything responsible yet, so I'm helping the mother cat mother them. I go out there to pet them every so often so that they will be used to human touch and will be easily adopted. Good thinking, there, right? Drago fixed up a shelter for them, and I know they used it during a fierce thunderstorm yesterday (I checked) and I put food out because it seems I can't help myself. I could go on and on, but I won't. Kittens are all over the damn place on the internet, aren't they? People are probably sick of hearing about them or seeing pictures of them or watching video clips of them being almost unbearably cute. But these five are in our back yard! Kittens and brothers. I'm full-up.  

3 comments:

david coyote said...

It was a toss-up rather I was going to leave a message or not. That has nothing to do with your homey story of life, new baby girl, death, brothers, storms, kittens, birds and Philly, but more with fumble-fingering a borrowed laptop keypad and the impossible-for-me-to-manipulate cursor and bar-slide. Argh!

Are you absolutely sure that we aren't related?

coyote

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...

Oooh, what adorable kittens... impossible to stay detached. I remember your dad had a mom cat (white, I think?) in the garage with kittens too... It's a beautiful thing. I look forward to the adoption stories... or YOUR adoption story..lol...

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...

..and wonderful, the visit with Robert. There should be more - perhaps even us one of these days. I miss the beach! and Nana.. and Gulfgate... *sigh*... always relaxed when I was there. That's what I remember.