Moonbeam and Moon Shadow

In the early days of May, May 3rd to be precise, I had my soul retrieval.  One of the parts of my "self" that I got back in that healing session was a little girl, about three years old, who when she was found, was holding onto a small cat or kitten.  I thought that was interesting as my dreams in the nights leading up to the soul retrieval were filled with my sweet, old cat, Cleo, who has been dead for a number of years.  I assumed the small cat was Cleo, and went on with the business of soul reintegration and healing.

We have, in the last few weeks, gotten into the habit of walking late at night when our hot Cincinnati summer days have cooled into darkness.  Our condo complex is quiet at midnight, and we don our headlights and walk and talk prior to turning in to sleep.

Last night, just before midnight, we made it about 1/3 of the way through our usual route, under the bright light of a moon that was a few days shy of full, when suddenly, there stood a tiny kitten.  It was startling.  One minute, we were walking along, chatting mostly about baseball, and then, in a twinkle of an eye, there was this kitten.  She seemed to appear from out of nowhere.  It was a little startling ... a soft, fuzzy, ball of determined baby, materialized from the midnight moonbeams.

We looked around, wondering if she might belong to one of the neighbors.  There was one guy working in his garage, and I figured maybe she was his.  I scooped her up, and walked up his driveway --  Not his, though she'd been hanging around his place for awhile.  He wanted no part of her.  We sat her down in a nearby lawn, and started to walk away.  No way.  She followed us for nearly three-quarters of a mile, and we put her down for the night on a soft rug in the garage.

We went to bed with our heads in a whirl, wondering what we would do with her.  Our old lady cat, Callie, is not welcoming to other critters.  And we are planning to leave on Saturday for a trip to Denver.  Now is not a convenient time to take on a new baby kitty.  Of course, we were utterly, completely in love with our little moon shadow...

This morning, we got up; called the vet; and took her in for a check up.  She is pretty healthy -- some fleas and ear mites (to be expected with a kitten who has been outdoors).  She has two sore paws -- probably burned on the hot pavement.  She weighs three whole pounds, and the vet guesses that she is about three months old -- probably born right around the first week of May.  It would seem that our magical, moonbeam kitty arrived here on the planet at precisely the time when my little girl soul part came back bringing her soft little kitten with her...  (insert Twilight Zone theme music here).

We are all in love (except for Callie), so meet the newest member of our family.  This is Moonbeam (Moobie) --

swan