Willow had been a pass-around cat. I got her,literally in front of the Berkeley Humane SOciety when I went ther to file a lsot cat report when my big,squishy,goodlooking Asian-type black shorthair, Asher, went missing after ten years (!) there was a nice older woman who ahd been feeding a neighbor's cat since the neighbor's death.she was unsure aboutsurrendering it to the Humane Society even though they are no-kill...I agreed to take Willow right then and she handed me the cat carrier. Wilow was three years old. hat, and that she had been spayed and vaccinated, was all i knew about her...

she was a good little she knew Shadow, the last ofmy "old guard" of cats...Shadow was 16eyars oldand had been with us since I adopted her as a twoyear old fromthe marin Humane Society.Shadow was there when my daughrer was born at home.shewas a funny, toughm etite part-Persian black cat who could chase Rottweilers away when she was feeling ikesticking upfor herself and her space. Shadow lived long and eacefully and generally in very good health with us for fourteen years, then started to lose weight in muscle mass and went down with what was probabl renal function pretty quickly. she died peacefully at home onlast halloween,night appropriate enough for a little black cat.

so Wilow was sort of the bridge between out "oldguard" and "new guard"of cats.

so maybe they had the appointemtn, to meet up again somewhere else?

it;s all speculative. some say that pets are abut tocome back as people. I eallydon;tknow. I like the ide that says there are no "past"live because time's not l inear off this plane...there are just "other lives" as the tales of the other lives of the Buddha usually as various animals in the Jataka tales. (I was a serious Zen student for some years and like the traditional Buddha's Birthday celebration in April,when the chidlrenlisten to these jatakea tales and bathe the baby Buddha in tea. and eat too many sweets, but that's how people celebrate stuff especially with kids.)
there are a lot of different ways that "karma" is understood as cause and effect.some say it;s all about reducing karma and bringing karmic energy to rest.

this is getting kind of cosmic and speculative,as i say. think I'll pet my other "new guard" cat and offfer him some catnip...wonder who my next new pet will be and how it will come to me?all my critters are rescues one way or another.I have four turtles and tortoises (three different species) that needed homes,plus a cat whose owners were leaving the country...my daugher did a school internship last year at an animal rescue organization. my last dogwas rescued bymy aunt wh tohought I needed him...she was right.the box turtles were found through a free ad at a pet supply store, the sulcata tortoise through an ad on Craigslist, the redearedslider turtle belonged to my former boyfriend';s father, who didn' t really know how totake care of it...and then he died and the turtle wound up at my house.

so we'll see...maybe the universe wills end me another dog and the time and space for it! o rmaybe another cat who needs a loving home. or..who knows?I found a lost parakeet outside my house several years ago bu tcouldn;t keep it because I had four cats...found it a good home too.\\weare all the pieces to someon;s puzzle.