Diane was a grown woman and she was in the midst of a grown-up crisis – a divorce.  She reached in the pocket of her coat and pulled out a plastic Holstein cow. She smiled the type of smile that comes with a memory and dropped the cow in her handbag.

“What’s with the cow?”

“Oh, it’s something my mom and I have been doing for years, but when I moved away it stopped. Now I’m back recreating my life as a single woman and she probably felt I needed something to lighten my heart – hence, the cow.”

“Okay, but apart from getting you to smile, what does the cow mean?”

“It doesn’t really mean anything. We just take something – it can be anything and we put in each others belongings. Now I have the cow, so I need to hide it somewhere in her domain. It makes us think of each other, we smile because it reminds us we are loved, that the other is there and that the simple things in life are not to be lost amongst the difficult and complicated”.

At the same time my son Cody was in his teenage years. Ever tried to initiate a conversation with a teenage boy that consists of more than one word? Forget about going for a smile.  I found a mini troll – made me think of my son and the stage he was in.

And so it began.

It worked – we had something simple that was fun and light hearted. We didn’t start talking any more than before, but the energy between us had shifted and without saying a word we knew we loved each other and we were smiling when that creepy troll appeared.

Twenty years later Cody was visiting and when he left I started to find Cats in odd places. I had made these stuffed, three inch cotton cats when my kids were little. There is a Flapper Cat, Chef Cat, Super Kitty Cat, Sailor Cat and so on. My kids played with them –   my grand kids and I don’t play – we do battle with them. They are soft and they are harmless, so we have “Cat Fights”. We pummel each other with them, because sometimes you just need a Cat Fight, where no one ends in tears, just fits of laughter. Even five year olds and toddlers need a way to vent.

Having the Cats show up in uncanny places over the course of a couple of weeks warmed my soul and made me smile. I knew my son was smiling when he hid them. These are the moments that come with the adjective, special. This is love.

The other day my grand son Sam turns to me, “Alma, why is there a cat in with your books?”

“Oh, Uncle Cody is just making me smile.”

“Let’s find the rest.” Five year olds make it happen; they aren’t into the mode of allowing it to happen.

We searched the house and found more.

Sam collected them in a bundle and then he smiled. It was a smile with a glint of cunning.

And then the battle cry, “CAT FIGHT!!!” was declared.

A cat landed square on my forehead. The Cat Fight was in play.

One of the Cats remains in hiding.

It will be found in due time. On a day when I need my soul warmed and a smile.

Photo by: Sharon Cooke