Otis

Never while growing up would I have considered myself a cat person. But, of all the pets I could have let into my house, I chose Otis. Otis is a white cat with big black spots. On one side of him the spots look like a skull. He is pretty cool. Unless he is in a talkative mood.

Like this morning, he followed me around as I was getting ready for work with his loud yowl. I went into the bathroom, he sits on the back of the toiled and yowls. I wash my hands, he bats at my leg and yowls. I pick him up and he purrs and about falls out of my arms trying to get me to pet both sides of his head. Then I put him down, and he yowls.

I put on my scrub pants, he bats at the strings.  (Last night, he woke me up because he pulled the strings of some pajama bottoms out of the basket so he could attack them. ) He follows me downstairs, stops at the bottom of the steps and yowls. Into the kitchen, he yowls.

I have no idea what this cat is trying to tell me. He has food and fresh water. But seriously, this cat talks more than I do. THAT is saying something.

Tomato Soup

Every time I eat tomato soup I think of my Grammie. She spoiled us in so many ways, but on Saturdays, while we were at her house, if the request was not for macaroni and cheese, the next best thing was toasty cheese (grilled cheese sandwiches) and tomatoe soup. And man, could she make a mean can of campbells tomato soup! She would always use milk, not water, then add a little sugar and a little pepper. The grilled cheese was always special too because she buttered all four sides of the bread. 

 Once, while I was in college I was given as assignment to fast and stay alone for 24 hours. The professors point was that we have and we make so many distractions for ourselves that it is often difficult for God to be heard above all of the noise. I bargained my way into eating nothing but fruits and veggies and drinking only water. I have always been an eat every two hours kind of a person so twenty four hours without food would have killed me, or so I thought as a 19 year old college student. 

I made the arrangements to go to my grandparents house in the country and stay in their camper which they had put in the barn to store. For some reason I thought this would be no problem for them. I didn't consider that someone, my Grammie, would have to clean the camper. She did not complain or even remind me of that fact. She just siad she would be glad to have me at her house, even if I couldn't talk to her very much. 

I arrived and spent way more time than I should have sitting in her kitchen talking to her. Not only had she cleaned the camper for me, she had also supplied me with bottled water and way more fruits and veggies than I could have eaten in 24 hours. But later on in the evening, I heard a knock on the camper door and her sweet voice saying "Lala. . . " I poked my head out and there stood my Grammie with a hot bowl of Tomato soup! She said, "I just could not stand the idea of you not having anything warm to fill your belly, so I thought about what I could bring you and I said Hey! tomato soup is all veggies, I will make it. And, here I am!" I was so grateful for that soup! 

I did learn a lot in that 24 hours "alone". In truth though, the best part of that assignment was the excuse to see my Grammie. She loved me so much, and I knew it every time I saw her. Maybe that was the lesson God wanted me to learn that weekend. That we need to show the people we love most how much we love them every time we see them. Even if all it takes is a bowl of soup.