goodbye kit kat

malcolm and i both had things planned today.  i was to attend a meeting and he was going to finish the network wiring at our new house.  shortly before the meeting ended, i received a call from my neighbor.  i knew something was wrong before i even answered the phone.

'joanie, your cat is dead in the road' 

i wish she has been more gentle with me but what difference would it have made?  the cat is still dead.

then came other calls.  my husband, my daughter. 

i left the meeting early.

*****

jasmine was ready to leave for federation.  she was to play a difficult piece this year for the judges and this happened an hour before show time.  no adult was home so she was the one who had to deal with it.  the smaller kids were inside.  our neighbor, came to help but the emotional trauma had already occurred.  i was racing home but i couldn't shelter her from the pain of losing something you love.

she wanted to shut down.  i wanted to say something...

*****

the death of our cat gave me an opportunity to teach jasmine a valuable lesson.  even during emotional tragedy, we can't curl up in a ball and hide when we have a responsibility that needs to be fulfilled.  and even though this seems huge to her now, one day she will look back and this pain will be small in comparison.

'you can choose to lay in the bed and wallow in your misery but that won't change the reality of today'

'it speaks to your character when you can take a deep breath, push past your pain and do the task at hand'

this fork in the road was going to teach her a life lesson and i was praying she would take the path that would build her inner strength.

'you have 30 seconds to decide or you will be too late to perform'

i gave her some space.

nervously i entered her room and waited to see what lesson she was going to learn:

--when life hurts, we have a melt down and avoid life

or

--when life hurts, we acknowledge it and move on

she chose the latter and slipped on her shoes and walked out the door

*****

jasmine only got a 4 our of 5 today at her performance.  under the circumstances, i say she earned that 5th point with a different instrument.

the instrument of life

(computer drawing of kit kat by elizabeth tester)