Our sweet Fiona, the little black cat I always wanted, had a challenging night and morning; we’ve been noticing her decline for months but this morning was distressing for her. So we held her close to our hearts until we could see the vet.
I told Fiona her story again, and thanked her for all the blessings she’s given to our lives. She was 14, so there were many adventures to recount.
I think the best stories invite our transformation into the people we imagine ourselves to be, the lovers of life we’re called to be, because we’re here with gifts to share and the world needs them.
My 4-legged companions have nudged me into becoming a far better person than I’d have been without their light and deep acceptance of what is. They have patiently reminded me, over and over, that action and contemplation are equal partners in a deeply-lived life.
And Fiona was my contemplative Mother Superior and guide all her life, but especially in these past few years of her failing health. We seemed to need each other during those pre-dawn hours of sleeplessness. We sat together in the candlelit kitchen, gently rocking through those hours leading to the new day, and she offered me her master lessons in letting go, listening, and sharing peace.
Love is the boat we craft to sail together through life’s mystery, joy, and sorrow.
We make choices that distract and impede the flow of our goodness, and the best stories call us back to living more earnestly and bravely from our hearts. The words and imagery of such stories migrate to our spirit, sow their seeds, and yield awakenings throughout our lives, if we look for them.
Fiona’s story invited me to come home to myself, to sift through the clutter and noise of the world and allow my spirit to focus only on this: the unique blessing of love in our lives, the pain of losing those who offer it to us, and the healing invitation to use our grief to integrate our beloveds’ stories into our being and choices.
We dishonor love that doesn’t lead to greater love.
Fiona’s life was a treasure from beginning to this day’s ending. She offered our lives both gentleness and strength in admirable balance, practicing stillness and peace and offering these in abundance. She was a shy being with a core of steel. She made her needs known and offered her extremely loving gratitude when they were met.
Today, she asked us to allow her little body to rest and her spirit to be free. And so we loved her through this parting.
But we’ll keep her story and all the ways it delighted and changed us, and the ways it made our story so beautiful for a time, and now, forever.
I welcome your loving energy; as you know, these partings pare away and minimize the shiny lies and constructs we create to hide the truth that life is far harder and infinitely more simple than we accept. We are raw. We hurt. We need to pay attention to and nurture our healing. And each other’s.
May we be mindful of the story we are writing with our lives and the ways it feeds or deprives others of their fullness, joy, and peace. May we be kind. Like Fiona, may we faithfully tend our peace, and offer it in abundance.
THE DAILY ROUND 
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