Excerpt from Puffy & Blue: The Chronicles of Nine Lives Together
Puffy was a tomboy through and through. She was a great hunter and settled in quite nicely to our new home. Even though she was a medium-sized sleek black cat who was a half-Siamese mixed breed, she believed she was a black panther. Even though we fed her well, she went out hunting each day to bring a prize home for our family.
Our home on West Lake Drive in Desoto, Texas was perched at the edge of a field teeming with wildlife that provided ample opportunities for Puffy to exercise her wild side. If Puffy carried her catch home dead, my brother and I would hold somber funerals for her prey. One day Puffy approached the house dragging a jackrabbit more than twice her size between her legs. The rabbit was huge, but since Puffy thought she was a black panther, it must have seemed tiny to her.
Often Puffy brought her mice friends home alive to play with— much to my mom’s chagrin. Somehow it was always shocking that my mom, who was usually a picture of inner strength, would be standing on top of the washing machine, or hiding somewhere else as she screamed hysterically about a little mouse. My brother and I were then tasked with the job of rescuing my mom from the mice. Mice were among my mom’s greatest fears. The very thought of them opened a window into irrational fear for her.
We all have fears. They are like boulders in our way, as well as the tiny pebbles that simply slow us down on the path of our goals. With concentrated effort, some fears can be tossed aside, and others conquered, but some fears require acknowledgement and respect.
How about you – do you have fears holding you back? Some days I can feel paralyzed with fear. On those days I push through with just enough courage to put my feet on the ground. And then just enough strength stand up from my bed. After that I summon just enough drive to take one step after another towards the future. Even if a fear is a boulder in my life I am willing to climb over it or go around it one step at a time.
So very touching and beautifully written. I just discovered your website. Thank you for this.
Loved reading your book Puffy & Blue. Those boulders can seem so huge and the ones I come across most are the ones where I have my own self doubts. They rear their ugly heads or roll into my path to block me from moving forward. Thank you for sharing.
I find that my problems can be pebbles or boulders depending on how I look at them. If I let them get away from me I can keep myself up at night thinking about the boulder. When I get up the next day I often find it was just a pebble after all. Lovely post.
I’ve been afraid of too many things for too long a time. The more I do the boulders I fear, the more they turn into pebbles. I wish I had learned this lesson earlier.