I believe that there’s balance in this life. Darkness is balanced by light; cruelty by kindness; and hard times by good times. Now as it happens, these opposites don’t necessarily balance each other in one day, or sometimes in many days, but balance they do if I wait long enough and stay watchful. Every once in a while, though, I’ll catch the balance of some pair in a moment. I’m always caught off guard because these little bits of balance tend to take me by surprise, which is just what happened a few weeks ago with three of our cats.

We had been gone for several hours that afternoon, and the sunlight was fading as I walked into the Little Barn to check on Miracle. She hadn’t seemed right the night before, but I hadn’t seen anything to truly worry me ~ the feeling of uneasiness about her was more a feeling than anything explained by her behavior. I found her curled up in her bed in the cats’ area of the barn. She was very still, but her eyes were open and just staring.  Alarm bells went off in my brain as I moved the bowl of cat food that rested in front of her door to the right side of the bed, out of my way but only about half a foot in actual distance. Her eyes didn’t track with my hands, which was unusual, and the purring that usually starts up the minute she thinks I’m going to pet her, didn’t.  

I reached into the bed and started to stroke her fur. She didn’t feel particularly warm, but she still wasn’t moving. Enough of this, I thought, reaching for my phone to call our veterinarian’s office. I tried not to sound panicked, but I was really glad they had an opening in two hours. I hung up and started to dial my husband to let him know what was going on. At just that moment,  I happened to glance to my right ~ and there was the little bit of balance the Universe was offering me. Stress? Meet chuckles. 

We have six cats, and two of our oldest are males, Echo and Steve. They do a great job of peacefully coexisting, but every once in a while, they find themselves occupying the same space. When I glanced their way, I saw Echo sitting on one side of the food dish, while Steve faced him on the other side. Both cats were sitting upright, perfectly still. All four cat eyes were slits; all four cat ears were focused forward; and the tips of both tails were up and just gently twitching. 

As I watched, Steve slowly, slowly lowered his head and took a few pieces of food. He swallowed, and as he reached his neck to the food for a second bite, I watched Echo. In perfect unison, he raised his right paw and tilted his head to the left. Slowly, he reached his paw out toward Steve until, in a flash he bopped Steve on the head. Steve jerked upright, and the two went back to sitting perfectly still, watching each other. 

Slowly, slowly, Echo lowered his head and took a few pieces of food himself. He swallowed, and just like he had done to Steve a moment ago, I watched Steve raise his right paw while tilting his head to the left. Then he reached out toward Echo, until BOP! Right on Echo’s head. 

My two sweet cats traded bops on the heads for a few minutes while I just watched and laughed. At the same time, I was petting Miracle and worrying that something was seriously wrong with this little cat I’d rescued two years ago and loved with all my heart. It was one of those moments ~ a bit of balance courtesy of the Universe. It helped. It always does. 

An End Note: Miracle stayed four nights in the cat hospital because of a fever and pain. She’s home, though, and doing well.  Steve and Echo apparently finished their dinner in relative peace. They’re both, also, doing well.