Is Storytelling Dead?

Way back when I first began blogging for Abby (and Boo,Ping,Jinx and Gracie) in 2005 I was doing it, in my mind at least, as a way to journal their lives as much as I could. I can see my early efforts were sporadic. I did blog every week, usually several times. It wasn't until later that I wanted to try to do a daily post. But, back then blogging was "new", there were few cat bloggers and it wasn't until a few years later that the CB was founded and it was much easier to find one another and we became a community. Nowadays, blogging is being usurped by 'quicker' social sites, such as Twitter and FB. As much as I enjoy the rapid fire explosion of Twitter, you do have to express yourself in 140 characters. So Twitter is like a sprint to FB being a 5k and Blogging being more of a marathon. It depends on what your endurance level is to what you might enjoy. Or like myself you might find you like them all. But, in the end I will always be one who likes to sit and ponder and tell stories. Every day stories of nothingness , or stories of the heart. This is a great place to express as much or as little as you wish. In the end, blogging was always about Abby for me. In 2005 I began writing a journal about my search for what turned into finding Abby. So she has been the reason for my many words all along. I intend to continue to tell her stories. I took so many photos, and so few of them made it onto the blog while she was alive. There are years worth of documenting her stories and exploring my transformation since her death.  I know for some it may seem strange that I continue to put such a heavy emphasis on Abby. But she was my passion, she made me a better writer and especially a better photographer. When I look back now at my early photography I know some of it was not having a good camera, but a lot of it was my own inability to take decent photographs. I got much better as time and Abby taught me. Oh my how she taught me. She was my muse and my inspiration and my model. She indulged me with sticking that camera in her face all the time. She gave me some exquisite images. She expressed her true feelings through our pictures. She let me see her through my camera's eye. Now those pictures will let me continue to tell her story. I don't believe storytelling is dead, do you?

Abby Stories

This was taken before our kitchen remodel.
This is a time warp from the early 1980's.
But, Abby always loved getting into the bottom cabinets.
She would sit in front of the cabinet and look at me.
If I didn't act fast enough she would give me a big meow.
Let me in there Mom, NOW!

I use to kid her and tell her to go check out for aliens.
She would dutifully go into the cabinets and what she would do was go to the corner
and scratch. She would get up on her back paws and scratch with her front two.

Then she would come sit in the front like she is here.

I bet she saw one of the other cats wanting to check out what was in the cabinet too.

All of these were taken on the same day.
December 2, 2007
***
I sure do miss my little kitchen helper.
I love you Abby
to the MOON
and BACK
again, and again, and again. 

***
A SURPRISE VISIT
Sunday while watching the late afternoon football game I was sitting on the couch. I had a cup of coffee that was basically empty sitting beside me and all of a sudden I felt the pounce of a jump up onto the sofa's arm and onto the back. I thought Ping had jumped up. So I swiveled and looked and all that was there was a sleeping Gracie, except my cup had turned over and DaddyCAT saw/heard it too. There was nothing there. Gracie had not moved she was curled up sound asleep but it happened. I have to believe it was Abby. I can think of no other explanation. Her "spot" was up on the back of sofa. We had only gotten that sofa within the past two years and she loved the extra cushy top part. I had been looking at photos of her yesterday from December of last year in that exact spot. I know it happened and I have to conclude there is only one animal that would have done that. TO think it had been so long since she had made her presence known to me and out of the blue this. What a gift.

Tiny Dynamo

C.July 2005
I was using the reference of the normal size diet coke bottle to show you the scale of how small Abby was. She was only 11" tall. Oddly enough she was also 11" long. She was in my estimation about the size of a 4-5 month old kitten. I wish I could have seen her as a kitten, and to have known her parents and siblings. Was she the runt? Or were they all small?? Her body was typically round which is normal for a Manx. But her head was angular, not rounded which is atypical. But I just loved the way her body was compact and muscular and low to the ground. She truly was a tiny dynamo.

I don't know what was with the paw thing.
MOL

She held it up in the entire series.

I bet she was tired of the flash box going off.
I can look back at all of my older pictures and she how far I've come both in terms of better quality pictures and also better photography skills in capturing animals. Those who have black, or white, or the combo of black and white cats, know how hard it is to photograph black or white.  I was happy that I did  invest in DSLR camera because it gave me some excellent pictures of Abby, all later in her life, but I still have them and they are my treasures.

*****
I will offer up one piece of advise and it's hard to do because I failed at it, but I am trying to do better. Take pictures.Take LOTS of them. Digital pictures basically only cost your time. You will never regret having too many pictures. I thought I had taken too many pictures, and even though I have over 50000 of the cats throughout the years, that isn't enough. I will I had a zillion more of Abby.

*****
I miss my girl.
Which I know anyone who has lost their kitty, especially their heart kitty does.
It's hard. Even when your home is filled with other felines, it's still hard. I am so grateful I have the four I do but, they are not Abby. Just like Abby was not Boo, or Gracie, or Ping, or Jinx. They are all unique. But, Abby and I well we just had something special going on. She needed me, and I needed her. Now, I have to find a way to contentment with letting her go ahead of me and I must wait until I can be reunited with her. Time keeps ebbing away the very rough edges of the grief, but as the major Holidays approach it will  bring renewed sadness. I had one brief moment of clarity when she was so sick in August. I was looking through my photo archives and of course I ran upon the Christmas photos. I knew right then, she would not see another Christmas. I had to shut down that thought at the time, but my head knew her time was so limited. Not as limited as it turned out to be, but limited. So, this Holiday season will be my first without her and it will be different, more bittersweet,less joyful than it might otherwise have been as time grows closer I will share some of the Holiday photos of years past. She was always my little helper when I wrapped packages. She loved boxes and getting into the papers and bows. Oh it's going to be tough this year, can I just skip the holidays this year?

*****
I love you Abby,
to the MOON
and BACK
again, and again and again.