Lady Kitty and I are in my room while Michael is downstairs in the kitchen with Lake. It’s a good day… about seven o’clock on a school day. The boys are prepping the 17 weekly vocabulary words, putting the final shine on Lake’s Friday finale, the spelling test. A freshly dressed Lady Kitty is sitting up on my big bed with her back to me, looking out the window into the branches of cedar tree. I am standing, fronts of my thighs pressing into the side of the thick mattress, unbraiding her night braid and brushing her hair to create the requested hairstyle of the day: two high ponys with bows.

Spring is exploding into our neighborhood and the crisp morning air erupts with birdsong. The chipper chatter penetrates our ears so close to our brain and cajoles us awake and propels us squarely into a happy mood. The bouquets of cherry blossoms on the street trees fill the sky with fluffy pink flowers. How dreamy is that? No less wondrous than if baby unicorns would suddenly gambol by in merriment.

Lady Kitty andI are having a bit of a lark playing “cat family”. I had been purring in her ear to wake her up and tried to lick her face while we both laughed and she ducked and dodged. But not before I got the briefest taste of a forehead guarded by wisps of hair tendrils. Salty!

Our “cat family” game evolves to incorporate the tasks of the morning. As the school bus draws closer it involves some opposable thumb activity and talk becomes peppered in amongst the meows.

“Your teacher asked the parents to send snacks to school for the class if they could. The class is running low on snacks. Would you like to bring some of those boxes of gluten-free bunny grams? We have a bunch of boxes in the pantry.” I say.

“You know how all the bananas are stuck together?” Lady Kitty says.

“Yes, like a ‘bunch’ of bananas. That’s called a ‘bunch’ of bananas,” I say.

“A crowd. Well, I call it a ‘crowd.’ A ‘crowd’ of bananas,” Lady Kitty says.

A perfect morning of cats and bananas. I’m glad I spent it with you, Lady Kitty. You’re the cat’s bananas!