Stop Before You Miss Everything

Bee looked down on the bed at her somewhat portly Tabby cat. Hazel the cat seized the moment when she had Bee’s full attention, presenting her irresistible belly. Smiling, Bee petted Hazel’s soft belly with both hands. Suddenly, the surround sound of purrs filled the room.

After 32 seconds of belly petting, Bee returned to her tablet device, still petting Hazel with her free hand. The purring halted, like a warm engine that shut down and turned cold.

Bee set her device down upon the wool comforter. She squinted at the unkind union of her blue and pink psychedelic fish patterned device cover and the grey, cream, and orange rustic pattern on the bedcover. The clashing colors didn’t matter anymore…the purring engine revved up.

She tilted her head to the side, noting the return of the pink belly as Hazel wiggled her back into the lumpy bed. Bee opened the fish cover on the device and the purring stopped. Bee snapped the cover shut and the purring commenced.

Bee tossed the device across the bed so it landed on the furthest corner, almost teetering on the edge to meet its demise on the faux wood floors. In that moment, she gave Hazel everything she could. Her hands, her eyes, her energy.

Their love grew instantly. It eclipsed the other hours of the day when they danced around each other in absent distraction. This time was meaningful…it was fuller in every way.

Bee renounced time. The expanding silence in the city reminded her of the night hour. She picked up her phone to set her alarm for 6:30am. Hazel’s purring halted once more and she smacked the phone out of Bee’s hands. The purring commenced.

She stared back at Bee, her green eyes saying: “Stop before you miss everything.”

Bee laughed and stroked Hazel’s large, pointy ears. “Thank you for being my constant teacher.”

After a bit of a hiatus, the Real Life Fiction blog series is back. This series shares slices of real life through a fictional narrative. To catch up on other posts from this series, go here.

Wondering where I was for a few months? Most of you know that I’ve been knee-deep in the paperback publication process with all three of my novels, which included traveling to fellow blogs for a mini book blogging tour.

Feels good to be back to the usual now. Thank you all for putting up with my book marketing and sticking around for creative ramblings.

Recently I wrote a guest blog for my longtime writer friend, Eli at Coach Daddy, called How to Protect Your Creative Mind.

It takes courage to be an artist. Yet, no matter how brave you are, your creative mind is far from invincible. In this blog, I share a few techniques I’ve learned over the years that will help you protect your creative mind to produce better work and experience more fulfillment.

Read It