Wake Up!!

Strangely I have a memory from when I was a teenager spending the night at my grandmother’s farm. I awoke to see a black cat sitting by my head, curiously staring down at me, the strange person, sleeping on her mistress’s couch.

It was Inky, an indoor/outdoor cat, who was friendly and loved by my grandmother. Since I had never owned or been owned by a cat until over 50 years later, it was the strangest feeling to awaken to a dark presence peering down on me. Little did I know that later in my life I would have many more awakenings similar to that one.

I now live in a condominium building with a dear lady above me. Norie often wakes me up at 5 AM, when she hears our upstairs neighbor wake up for devotions and to getting ready for Mass. I don’t…