Well, about a month ago… I left Hawaii. My housesit on the Big Island began as a month-long sit and was extended… and then extended again. In the end I was there for an unexpected four months. There were so many things that I loved about the sit – the bevy of tropical plants on the property that covered us up like a blanket, the two very sweet kitties who spent their days chasing geckos and returned home for late afternoon dinner like clockwork, the constant blue skies and warm sunny days, the wild open feeling of the surrounding lava desert landscape and of course the beach. You can’t forget about the beach! I was fortunate to have been on Oahu and the Big Island long enough to where the beach became… sort of a normal thing to me, a beautiful appreciated backdrop to daily life. The beach closest to my housesit has a regular assembly of local sea turtles who became part of my regular crew and errands… you know, go to the grocery store, stop by the beach and visit with the sea turtles. All in a day.
While there were many good things on my sit there was also an assortment of elements that were a little out of the ordinary. Towards the end there were a bundle of things happening at the house and so when the homeowner offered to return home, for a variety of reasons it just felt like the right time to depart.
The night before the homeowner returned there was an out of the ordinary pet sitting adventure. It was Sunday evening and it was dinner time and the sweet boy kitty wasn’t home for dinner. This had happened once or twice before, but it really wasn’t like him. I called for him and called for him. In the distance I heard this very faint “meow” and it led me to the corner of the main house right by the entrance we used to come in and out. As I got closer I heard him… coming from the top edge of the roof but I couldn’t see him. It seemed he was somehow inside the roof but I couldn’t quite tell where he was.
Because of fences, the studio apartment next to the main house and the layout, I had to run around the houses and through the back yard to get a closer look. Again I heard him clearly coming from within the roof. There was a ladder nearby and I leaned it up to the house, climbed up and was able to see more clearly. There was a narrow (about seven inches or so) corridor on the outside perimeter of the roof that he had crawled into. The roof was slightly slanted and there was an opening on one end but not on the other. It seemed he was able to find his way in, but not get out.
While I was up on the roof I called to him and he wriggled himself back, came to the edge and came up against a plastic covered wire or piping for the house that was in the way. As he came up against that with his back body, I think it scared him and he felt he couldn’t get out and so he would scurry back the other way. He tried again and did the same thing.
I was so upset! It seemed he was stuck in the roof! It was almost 5:00pm and not much sunlight left and it felt important to get him out before the sun went down. There were no neighbors around and I reached out to the trusted friend nearby several times who was not available. So I took a chance and I called the fire department. 😉 At first they said they didn’t respond to such things, but then called back and said they’d like to see if they could help.
When they arrived and came to the back they tried some gentle things to encourage him to find his way out. But time and again when he got to the end he was unable to make his way out. They left sorry they couldn’t help but thought that the cat would find his own way out. By this time I had also spoken to the homeowner and she too thought he would find his way out and felt confident he would be okay if he was in there for the night. The trusted neighbor friend had also come by and would make plans for some contractor friends to come help the next day if he didn’t get out on his own.
When the next morning came he was still stuck in there. Soon the friends and helpers came and without too much ado were able to turn a few screws and simply lift up the metal roof to give him enough space to be free and he leapt out. Thank God. Not your ordinary pet sitting experience! He ran off for a while but in his good regular way, was back in the afternoon for dinner and his kitty life continued.
The homeowner returned that day, just a quick flight from the pacific coast to return to the Big Island. A few days later I, once again, packed up my bags like Mary Poppins and headed on my way.
It was December 22, just a few days before Christmas, and I was grateful that my mom opened up her doors for me to come. Honestly, it felt so good to come back to the midwest. It felt good to see my mom and be connected with family. And it felt good to be in the center of a large mass of land and take in the simple, gentle landscape. I enjoyed unpacking my modest assortment of winter clothes and taking in my first snow of the season.
I am still here at my mom’s and since I have arrived we have seen the second and third snows of the season. For those who like astrology, Mercury is in Retrograde, not a time for big change or moving forward, and it has felt natural to stay warm and tucked away.
With all that is going on in the world and going on within me, it has felt like a time to take stock and revisit some basic things for myself, my life and my world. It is also another juncture of uncertainty, something I have likely had more experience with than the average person. And while in earnest it isn’t always easy to ride the highs and lows and ups and downs of the wave of this life, I have also learned to a greater degree that having some space for uncertainty can serve me to allow room for what’s next to take shape.
So here I am again in the Midwest, a little startled by the cold after almost a year in Hawaii. Grateful for a comfortable place to land as I wonder, consider and be with “what’s next.”
Farewell for now, surfing through Mercury retrograde – which goes direct February 3rd! What is up in your world? Always great to hear from you!
Gypsy Woman 