Traveling with Ash and other Adventures

Aisling (Ash) and I flew Sun Country to CA. It was a first time for both of us. TSA was pretty easy-going in Minneapolis-St Paul airport. She got a lot of attention from the team and they walked us through the process. She didn’t try to get away when I had to take her out of the cat carrier. She preferred being right back in it after the screener.

The TSA agent cracked a joke about “letting the cat of of the bag.” We all laughed nervously. I had enough time for a glass of wine and a sandwich.

On our first full day in CA in my parent’s house, Mom and I decided to go to yoga at the JCC. I ended up getting a two-week membership. Maybe I will actually get in shape now. Dad decided, while we were out to take care of the trash bins. Ash took this moment to escape out the fence and go off on an adventure of her own.

By the time we got back from yoga, we realized quickly the cat was out. As is per usual with Ash, I got more exercise hopping on my Dad’s bike to look around the park, calling her name. I called her name up and down the cul-de-sac and into the neighbor’s yards. We posted on Nextdoor.

I had gotten Ash a Jiobit GPS tracker, but the collar I got her was way too big even in the smallest setting. I would need to find her a kitten collar somewhere. I am not 100% sure at her size she will even wear the Jiobit. She is not yet microchipped. All these thoughts raced through my mind.

About 20 minutes into the stressful search, Ash came quietly sauntering up to me in the front yard, having come out of the trees and bushes on my parent’s property. Unlike me, she seemed oblivious to the large garbage trucks, the dogs and the kids in strollers.

She was perfectly fine and not stressed at all. That figures! She came inside completely willingly with an air of “not sure what you are so frantic about I am fine.” Her collapsible crate comes today – seems both of us will need some boundaries in the new space.

The week off work will do me some good. I can finally recover from the six months of content work for the corporate website I stood up for my regular job. I am trying to recall that complete sense of centeredness I felt post-surgery in March. That time I took a women-centered class, burned sage, read tarot and danced to get in shape.

Who was that woman? I became a cat Mom and got lost in a corporate project. It is amazing how quickly we can let go of that balance in this world. Give it up, almost without thought. Squelch our good habits in favor of the pushing and shoving so ubiquitous on this planet.

Let’s hope that this week gives me back a little sense of the complete me and I can develop a more sustainable trajectory.

In the meantime, Ash is taking her afternoon siesta and I am writing.

Long and the no of it, a kitten named Ash

You don’t get to be my age without having been told no a few times and then chosen to do it (whatever it is) anyway. I am taking my cat to California on Monday. So in service of this, I started reading articles on what to expect when I show up at the airport.

The first one I read, mentioned not to bring your cat at all and leave them at home. I recalled all the cats I saw on planes in the last couple years and figured maybe I could ignore that advice. Ash and I have become bonded since she arrived in June.

The night I found Ash was a run-of-the-mill evening. I ate dinner. Watched some TV. Decided it was finally time to go to bed about 10:30 pm. The weather was still a little chilly so there was no need for AC or a fan. My window was open. As I started to get ready for bed, I heard an insistent mewling from outside.

I checked out my window to figure out where this cry may be coming from. Looking down in the Irish on Grand parking lot, a Mom and Pop store which houses a collection of Irish goods and hosts Irish dance lessons, I could see two tiny ears in the light pooled around the shed below.

Thinking this was unusual, I decided to put a hoodie and some shoes on and head out to investigate. As I circled the parking lot, I could hear the insistent cry. I saw her in the light. Alone. I wasn’t sure if she would try to run away as I approached so I spoke to her. When I arrived to her location, I bent down and picked her up and she kept crying. I noticed some blood and an injury on her neck.

I thought maybe her mother and possibly siblings may be close by. Taking a quick assessment of the area, I could see no sign of either mother or siblings. I had no idea how she might have gotten to this lonely spot this late at night all on her own.

What I knew then, was that she would need to come home with me so we could assess the damage. She was so tiny and frail. When we got back to my apartment, I tried to get her to drink water, but she did not. I had no food appropriate for cats.

I had to trust that if she lived through the night, I might be able to get her seen by a vet. I had no idea that I would keep her.

As I write, Ash, now 3 months is curled up next to me on the couch. I named her Aisling, an Irish name meaning imagination, in honor of her beginnings. She is also grey and black so her nickname, Ash is appropriate.

After all this, I wasn’t leaving my young kitten familiar to some house-sitter who showed up once a day to feed her. Also, even if they stayed in my apartment, Ash is a lot to handle. Between regular biting, she likes to escape down the hall for several rounds of the building on a regular basis. Big responsibility to take on.

While I maybe *should* keep her at home, I won’t be keeping her at home. Same with another trip I have planned in October. We’re buddies. Talk to me in October about whether my idea was a good one.