There is nothing Kali-Ma loves more than a walk in the snow.

On Friday morning the snow began to fall and the newscasters promised it would be the snowstorm of the year. We were to have accumulations into the double digits by Sunday evening. I briefly opened the balcony slider door early Saturday morning while all the world was still asleep. Kali-Ma got just a whiff of the cool crisp air and she ran around the house doing crazy eights. “Calm down” and I told her, “today is the day you get to go out in the snow.” 

I waited until early afternoon when the temperatures had risen and the snow had stopped. They had said we would get a brief break for a few hours from the blizzard. I bundled her up in her warmest hooded sweater, and off we went! I found a nearby trail with a creek that had a clear path she could walk in the snow.

Kali-Ma wanted to run and play.  I, on the other hand, was trying to get the best video of her, with the optimal lighting.  You can see all of her the videos of her walking in the snow here Kali-Ma Video.  If you ever tried to take a video one hand, and a glove on the other, while a cat is running full speed, well, let’s just say someone should have been filming us! So I attempted to have her pose for a few still shots, and she was having none of that! Then it started to snow hard and fast. It was a wet sticky snow. It was too wet for her to walk in the snow. Clearly, it was time to go and when I picked Kali-Ma up to carry her to the car I realized she was soaking wet. 

 Time Out For Cat Wisdom

We got to the car and  I took off her sweater, harness, etc and turned up the heat. While the car was warming up I was going through my phone to check messages.  That’s when I heard her cry. Kali-Ma NEVER cries. She never meows and she never cries. She’s named after a Goddess but I have often said I could have called her Fearless. Something was wrong. I looked over and she wasn’t on the seat next to me. She was in the back seat with her paws on the window shaking.

I got out the car, went around, and retrieved her from the back seat and put her inside of my fleece lined coat as it was the only dry item I had. We sat in the front seat together in silence. Then I cried and the cry turned into a sob. Here she was shivering and I was more worried about the website and answering messages than her? What had I become? Nothing in the world was ever more important than her, EVER. 

As we sat there in the quiet with the snow falling I looked around. I viewed my surroundings with fresh eyes and it was stunning.  Words cannot express the beauty of the snow on the trees and the hum of the creek running through it.  The tranquility of everything was nature in perfect harmony and I was so busy trying to take videos and pictures that I almost missed it.  Not to mention I had ruined all of Kali-Ma’s fun. All she wanted to do was walk in the snow. It was then that Kali-Ma began to purr inside my coat. She is as always my greatest teacher.

Needless to say, we didn’t get the perfect video, photo or anything else.  What we did share was more precious than anything material, the imperfect moment together that led to the best day. I looked at Kali-Ma and said “the phone goes off” and I turned it off for the rest of the day. We spent the entire day together like we use to.  There is a time to be “Tails of Kali-Ma” and there is a time to just “be”.

I leave you with this thought from Emmet Fox:

“The Law of Life is to live in the present, and this applies to both time and place. Do not have your body in New York and your mind in California” 

Until next time….Happy Tails to You!