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la mira di Mira (the sight of Mira)
a few years ago, i was visiting friends in California when i received a call from my mother. she told me that Mira, a cat who was in her care, had disappeared. sure enough, Mira was nowhere to found when i returned to my mother's a month later.
Mira was always an incredible cat. i'd had her as a companion since she was two years old, and she was as close to being a familiar (in the druidic sense) as i thought possible. she moved her body as if it was inhabited by the spirit of large cat, and she certainly had the personality of one.
meanwhile, i moved to Boston a little less than a year later. thoughts of her entered my mind with less and less frequency as time went on, but she continued to have a presence in my life. i even had dreams where she would just pass through, almost like an extra in a movie.
so, why am i writing about this? well, imagine my surprise when i saw Mira last week, and not a hundred feet from the door of my apartment!
Picture of Mira, taken 17 July, 2005
i've taken some time before writing about this experience, if only to let it all sink in. after all, is it really her? how did she get here? how far is it from my mother's and where i am in Boston? (it's 800 miles ~ i looked it up.) i've talked to friends about this and they ask me the same questions. yes, i tell them, it's really her. i don't know how long it took for her to get to Boston or how she found me. in fact, one of the only things i do know is that i have a healthy amount of unanswered questions.
at first i wasn't sure it was her. what i saw were two cats in a neighbor's yard squaring off with eachother and it was as i approached that i realized that one of them was Mira. the other cat, who was clearly at a disadvantage, was slowly inching away while Mira was watching us both. waiting for them to finish, i knelt close to the ground and took in her appearance and behavior.
as soon as the other cat had gone, Mira nonchalantly walked up... and suddenly crashed her head into my outstretched hand, just as she used to do. i was overjoyed! after sitting in the sun with her for what felt like forever, she let me examine her and pick her up (she feels the same as she did three years ago and has the same distinctive markings). i took her back to the apartment, fed her some tuna, took a few pictures and counted my many blessings.
in the end i had to let her go. i don't doubt that she can take care of herself (besides, it looks like i'm in her territory), but the main reason is that i just couldn't keep her inside with Zasha, our enormous German shepherd. and she never was an indoor cat (and certainly isn't now).
i haven't yet seen her again, but i know she's nearby.
~ Christefano, 18 July 2005
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John wrote...
That is an amazing story, but I'm kind of sad about it.
Let me get this straight... Mira came 800 miles from Boston to your residence and you did not welcome her to live with you? You let go this cat?
My cat is one of the few beings I love and I never loved cats until now. I don't know how you could let her go. Did you consider bringing her back to your mother? Is she a stray cat now?
Christefano wrote...
thanks for writing, John!
Mira was (and still is) welcome to stay with me. part of me hasn't let her go, and what corroborates that to me is her presence here in my neighborhood.
i saw Mira in the neighborhood again last week and she looks healthy. i can't say if she's a stray or not but she's definitely being looked after by someone in the area.
something i've had in the back of my mind is that i honestly don't know what will happen when i find out where she's been staying. humans have a tendency to make strong emotional bonds with animals (i certainly do), but they also tend to objectify animals as "pets" and then subjectively assert claims of ownership (which i don't). i don't want to get into a squabble over ownership, and i take it as a good sign that Mira's not wearing a collar these days.
as it is, i'm grateful to those who are looking after her.
another thing is that my girlfriend and i have a very large dog that really, really likes cats. i mean, the exuberance and attention that our dog gives cats is the kind that means cats aren't comfortable (or safe) around her. it might be funny if this were about any other cat and not about Mira. i wrote about this in my journal entry, and i'm still not sure how to resolve this. i wonder if Mira is staying away just for this reason.
i'll write more here as things develop. thanks again for writing in.