![\"\"](\"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Deb-and-Crystal.jpg\" "\\"Deb-and-Crystal\\"")
<\/a>Crystal and I in the Keys<\/p><\/div>\n
Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> My step-daughter Crystal has been promising me for months that she would write a post for Zee and Zoey\u2019s blog. She comes to visit her Dad and I quite frequently from Boston, so I assumed I would get some sort of cute post on the comings and goings of the feline activity in our household from her perspective, as she is very familiar with the habits of our furry gang. What she sent me came completely out of the blue the other day and I am still quite overwhelmed with her heartfelt words.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n We all have our own perceptions of who we are as a person, but do we really know how someone else perceives us? Crystal knows I will be attending BlogPaws in a few days and am also a nominee for the category of \u201cBest Designed Blog\u201d for the Petties. She wanted to send a post of support on my behalf before the big announcement will be made this upcoming Friday night. Well, after reading her words about me, I have all I will ever need and am the biggest winner in the world already. To be blessed with such a wonderful family is a gift that I do not take for granted. I am graciously humbled by Crystal\u2019s expression to me and am so proud of her for all she has accomplished in her life and for all that she is striving for in her future – Deb\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Later that week, I found myself curled up in bed to finish reading a remarkable tale by the Brazilian author, Paulo Coelho.\u00a0 I found myself swept away by the simple, yet profound, allegorical tale crafted so magically in The Alchemist<\/em>.\u00a0 The story centers around the journey of an Andalusian shepherd boy, Santiago, and his pursuit of his Personal Legend, a dream Deb, after losing inspiration so many times as I tried to craft some sort of post that might be dignified and well-written enough to stand beside yours, I think I finally\u00a0did it!<\/p>\n Classic Leopard... Classic Deb<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cGod has prepared a path for everyone to follow.\u00a0 You just have to read the omens that he left for you,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> reads a line in The Alchemist<\/em>.\u00a0 Chills ran up my spine, goosebumps covering my arms, my mind thinking of \u201cGod winks\u201d as we call them in our family.\u00a0 Instead of thinking of my own path, as I am usually frantically searching for omens and \u201cwinks,\u201d my mind instead floated toward Deb, and her path.\u00a0 I could not help but think of Deb and her leopard print, even when leopard print was far from trendy.\u00a0 I thought of her recent post, and the similarities between her life and the life of Ernest Hemingway, even if they were only intended as tongue-in-cheek coincidences.\u00a0 I also lovingly reminisced of the timing Zee and Zoey chose to start their family: just as the humans in the home lost both incomes.<\/p>\n Yet, \u201cwhen a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> according to the wisdom of this allegory.\u00a0 Though Deb did not realize it, the universe really did have a remarkable surprise in store for her with the birth of these kittens and the loss of her job.\u00a0 Sure, financial stability would have been a lot nicer, but Deb was prepared for this, having learned early on to make-do with what you have, and to try your best even if you don\u2019t have enough to get by.\u00a0 Many people may have put all of the kittens up for adoption, rather than taking on the additional burden of four tiny mouths to feed, four more vet appointments, and sixteen more paws to curiously take hostage of all that is delicate and breakable in a home.\u00a0 That is not in Deb\u2019s nature, though.\u00a0 Rather than fall victim to the depression and desperation that follows in the wake of the loss of a job, especially in a volatile economy, Deb found inspiration.\u00a0<\/p>\n Deb taking an ordinary moment in her life - crocheting - and making it extraordinary by sharing the time with her beloved cats<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cWhen each day is the same as the next, it\u2019s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 In watching the chaos that surrounds four kittens as they capture the world in their delicate little paws, Deb began her journey from the Ordinary to the Extraordinary.\u00a0 She recognized what Coelho terms \u201cThe Language of the Universe,\u201d in her uncanny ability to nearly pry into the minds of the felines living in her home.\u00a0 Deb recognized something within the lives of cats that far too many of us have lost in our hectic shuffling through life: that at any given moment something may come along which takes us from the ordinary to the extraordinary, if only we dare to look out from the chaos that often swirls around us.\u00a0 Take for example the images captured on this blog, cats whose lives have become absolutely miraculous because there is a bird in the backyard, or a bug in the house!\u00a0 Deb also teaches us that we can take the time to bring the extraordinary to others, as she varies the birdseed used in the front of the house so that her cats have \u201cdifferent channels\u201d to watch.\u00a0 If there is one person I know that recognizes that good things happen every day, it is Deb.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yes, of course that is Deb... with a deer!<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0\u201cThere is only one way to learn . . . It\u2019s through action.\u00a0 Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> Long before The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey<\/em> became a thought in Deb\u2019s mind, and even longer before Zee or Zoey themselves came into Deb\u2019s life, she was learning and preparing and already well on her journey.\u00a0 I have learned many things about Deb over the years, but a few have always stuck out as being a part of her core essence.\u00a0 Above all, Deb is a nurturer.\u00a0 It is at the very root of her soul.\u00a0 She is gentle and kind, which are two qualities that must accompany one as nurturing as she.\u00a0 One can be born with such traits, but it is only through experience and hardships that someone can fine-tune these qualities so that they are read by others just by being in her presence.\u00a0\u00a0 This leads quite naturally to her relationship with animals.\u00a0 Animals by nature are very good at sensing what we as humans cannot always instinctively know.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s why the animals around Deb are so different than many others I have known.\u00a0 It is not that they are more \u201chuman,\u201d it is that they are more trusting of humans, and more accepting of our presence because they somehow know just how loved, appreciated, and cared for they are around her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Deb is also immensely creative, some of it natural, some of it born of experience, having to make do with the materials at hand.\u00a0 Deb has been crafting things from the ordinary to the extraordinary for the entire time I\u2019ve known her, and probably long before as well.\u00a0 If you doubt this, just see what she can create in the kitchen on the day after<\/strong> you should have gone grocery shopping!\u00a0 Many of you that read her blog may not be aware that Deb, at one point, wanted to teach history, and had taken courses for such.\u00a0 Though any classroom would be blessed by her presence, I am beginning to sense that it is not the history of textbooks that Deb was destined to teach, but more so that our own life histories are so much richer with experiences to learn from.<\/p>\n Deb whipping up God knows what in the kitchen that she and my Dad renovated together. You will note her beloved Kit and Bandit were still with her at the time. Hiding behind the plant, is Deb's Mom!<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cCourage is the quality most essential to understanding the Language of the World. \u201c<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 Deb has always had courage.\u00a0 She has had the courage to speak up for an animal when no one else would.\u00a0 She has had the courage to take action in the face of adversity.\u00a0 With The Chronicles of Zee and Zoey<\/em>, she immersed herself in her passion for animals, for history, and for teaching, and took a courageous step forward into the world of writing.\u00a0 She bared her soul in the pages of her manuscript and through blog posts on ZeeZoey.com, for the entire world to see.\u00a0 I am not surprised at all by the loving reception into the blog world and pet communities which she has received, because after all, with Zee and Zoey, she is speaking this \u201cLanguage of the World.\u201d\u00a0 She is part of a community that recognizes the miracles of the everyday, of the moments we can experience the extraordinary.\u00a0 She is part of something that recognizes that \u201ccrazy cat lady\u201d really isn\u2019t a bad thing if it means that a difference can be made if your passions are used to make the world better.<\/p>\n While Deb is clearly a cat lover, she has a compassion for all animals. Bandit was a rescue dog of hers that was meant to be a "fluffy purse dog." Bandit was labeled as "difficult" by the rescue people - of course she had no choice but to bring him home. He brought her over 12 years of wonderful memories.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cI thought the Soul of the World was perfect.\u00a0 But later, I could see it was like other aspects of creation, and had its own passions and wars.\u00a0 It is we who nourish the Soul of the World, and the world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where the power of love comes in.\u00a0 Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Santiago wisely speaks as he realizes that it is the power within us as human beings, and not the universe, that determines things.\u00a0 As Deb chose to break free from the pitfalls in her life, she began the spinning of a gear so large, I wonder myself if she will ever truly know how many others she has set into motion.\u00a0 By her example, and through many shared moments in the beloved tiki hut, I can truthfully say that because of Deb\u2019s love, our family is so much for the better.\u00a0 At times when Deb could have turned a blind-eye, or avoided an uncomfortable talk, she chose instead to be better, and to in-turn, make those around her better.\u00a0 Zee\u2019s very existence in our lives is because Deb wanted to make Dan\u2019s life better!\u00a0\u00a0 Her very nature is one of such comfort, nurturance, and love, it is no wonder that animals and humans strive for the extraordinary when she is in their lives.<\/p>\n<\/a>I have been promising my step-mother, Deb that I would appear as a guest-blogger for some time now.\u00a0 Many various cat-inspired themes have crossed my mind, and many posts have been started, but lacked genuine inspiration to continue.\u00a0 Last week, Deb posted about some similarities she noted between herself and the great Ernest Hemingway.\u00a0 She noted, tongue-in-cheek, the similarities between his birthplace, and where her mother was born, for example.\u00a0 In our family, we have lovingly referred to these coincidences as \u201cGod winks,\u201d a term coined by Squire Rushnell.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a> that comes to us when we are young and \u201cnot afraid to dream.\u201d\u00a0 Yet, despite how Coelho\u2019s rich storytelling created a scene in my mind, I could not keep from returning to the select people in my life who embodied this journey in their own lives.\u00a0 After completing the novel, I felt both foolish and intensely gracious, as I have been blessed with real people in my life who have dared to follow their Personal Legends, but I never truly recognized the greatness in front of me.<\/p>\n<\/a>\n
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