Sep 15, 2020 3 min read

My eldest child came over this weekend. We had planned a workday for our charity, Grandma’s Lap.

At least twice a month, we meet to make, wash and package blankets we deliver or ship to individuals and dialysis clinics all over the country. Begun the year after my mom passed away from kidney disease, we’ve now given out more than 3,500 homemade – mostly donated – blankets.

This weekend when she arrived, she brought her kitten. It is the sister to my younger daughter’s kitten, so she brings her over for “play dates” sometimes.

After a few moments of sniffing one another, the kittens were soon rolling on the floor, wrestling. Growling, mewling – and knocking things over – they made quite a racket. After a few minutes, one would retreat for a while, and the other would come to my daughter or I for attention. Then, once things cooled off, they would regroup and begin again.

We were sewing blankets at one point when both cats came zooming through our work area. One chased the other, and then vice versa, bounding over our little table and across the couch. Once, they even used my daughter’s shoulder as a leaping point.

Later, during one of their breaks, I found one cat sleeping in my Christmas cactus in the kitchen window, while the other one had gotten stuck to the sticky pad in the flea trap I occasionally put out as a precaution. The cat who was stuck was starting to freak out, as that glue is designed to stick for good.

Separating her paw from the glue pad was challenging.

It was like waxing an extremely hairy woolly worm. The kitten’s paw was both extra hairy and also virtually impossible to hold still. Finally, I was able to remove it, although sadly, dozens of bits of fur came with it.

Fortunately, it didn’t slow her down for even a second.

She immediately went looking for her sister to start another wrestling match. They played for the entire duration of our workday. When we broke for dinner near the end of our time together, the two kittens curled up together in a chair and went to sleep. They acted like best friends who hadn’t spent the prior eight hours squalling, kicking and hissing at one another.

When my daughter said she had to go, she gathered up her belongings and plopped her kitten inside her purse. Instead of fighting to get out, that little cat began purring and peeking out over the edge.

I was surprised to discover I was as exhausted as I used to be when both of my girls were teenagers living under my roof. I noted there were some similarities in how the kittens acted to how the human sisters used to act as well. They have very different likes and dislikes, along with dissimilar personalities. For a few years, they argued all the time, though I know of only once or twice when it became physical. Yet now, the girls are best friends, too.

It was interesting and unexpected perspective on my kids, even as they become adults. Still, I am grateful for perspective no matter where I find it.

Even if it was just from a couple of unruly kittens on a play date.