THE CAT'S PERSPECTIVE OF READING, WRITING AND LIFE.: Impossible Dreams for Thanksgiving

This is an empty dish. the sign of a neglectful caretaker.

This time of the year Judy and I review our dreams for the New Year. Me? Sure, I live for the moment, but I worry about my future when my dish is empty,

Looking forward to a new day, a new week, a new month....

or when I want to explore the campground and mom is still in her pajamas.

Before the present year is scratched out, covered up, and a new year pounces forward, Judy reviews our past and sets our goals. She dreams impossible dreams. And me? I reach for the stars.

In Judy’s recent blog, The Writings Of A Wandering Widow, she describes how to prepare for the coming year. Cleaning and organizing.

Me? I’ve got the cleaning part down. I lick my fur until it shines. And Judy takes care of my organizational chores, storing my many, many toys in one basket. If I remove one, Judy’s impatience prevents her from waiting for me to return the toy to it proper place.

Before I set my goals I ponder exactly what I want, but I’m a cat, so that’s easy.

I always dream impossible dreams. As a kitten, separated from my mom, I hovered in the bushes, cold and hungry. I envisioned warmth and purring contentment. My dreams brought me through and I never gave up. Back then, I didn’t know what impossible meant.

But really, nothing is impossible. I wanted a warm home and a savior appeared and took me to Judy, who gave me more than I even could have imagined, two warm homes, my stick house and my motorhome.

Once I wished for a larger litter box, and Judy took me to The White Sands National Monument in New Mexico,

and this last trip, to The Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley, California.

The Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes. A huge litter box.

So you see, what could only seem like an elusive sand castle can become real and more amazing than anything I ever fancied.

What do I dream of in the coming year? I want to do something that will blow my mind. I want to be an Adventure cat.

I want to see the aurora borealis, WikiTravel - Northern Lights and chase the thousand rays of lights dancing across the night sky.

I want to travel the Mother Road, , Route 66, from California to Judy’s home town in . Springfield Illinois.

My advice to you. Live in the moment. Be content to find the joy of a little thing, a bird flitting by, or a whiff of catnip. And believe in the impossible.

The Rhyolite school

Yeah but, you say? What happened to the people that lived in this ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada? What about their impossible dreams? Looks pretty sad, but I’ve prowled the streets of this Rhyolite ghost town.

The Cook Bank in Rhyolite

This was a three story building in Rhyolite that cost $90,000 to build. It housed the stock exchange.

The ghosts and their stories linger on the desert breeze and I sense their presence and hear their voices. “Go for it!” They shout. “No regrets!” They explain what I see, what is left is their legacy. They reached for the stars and are not sorry for it.

Thanksgiving is a time to review my struggles, which for me, have been few. I spent much of this year comforting Judy as she bid her sister good bye. As difficult as it was to see my mom so sad, I was grateful to be there for her.

And what do you know? As great as Judy’s loss was on October 13, the next day, after sixteen years of estrangement, the universe reunited Judy with her daughter and family. Judy now has a new littler of folks to love.