{"id":3972,"date":"2011-11-12T06:50:34","date_gmt":"2011-11-12T11:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=3972"},"modified":"2016-01-17T16:33:36","modified_gmt":"2016-01-17T21:33:36","slug":"lessons-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/lessons-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Crocheting with my beautiful Zoey on my outstretched legs<\/p><\/div>\n

If there is any one more beloved in the cat blogosphere than Mr. Puddy, I would be quite surprised. I do not think there is a single person in my circle of human and feline friends who does not know who this handsome tuxedo kitty is. So, when I stopped by his blog the other day, I was quite taken aback and moved by the very courageous and honest post<\/a> he did about his human Mom and her addiction to the computer that was affecting him adversely.<\/p>\n

Apparently Puddy had been feeling neglected and decided to communicate very clearly to his human that she needed to take a break from the computer and spend more time interacting with him and the family. Mr. Puddy gave his Mom quite a scare when he stayed outside MUCH longer than normal and the time he was away caused her a profound moment of reflection. She said out loud what so many of us bloggers seem to be communicating as of late \u2013 it is not always possible to keep up with the fast pace relationship of maintaining a blog and a readership. And for many of us, sometimes it is more than one blog. Or, it is a blog, a full time job, and a book as in my case.<\/p>\n

Well, again, those of you that know Mr. Puddy, know that his fan base is HUGE\u00a0 and it turns out that Puddy\u2019s Mom was wearing herself out trying to\u00a0visit each and every blog she wanted to every day and leave comments.\u00a0I only have a fraction of the readers\u00a0Puddy has and I find it nearly impossible to keep up with it in a satisfactory manner. We all want to be able to interact and comment with all of our blogging buddies, grow our fan base, and create numerous clever posts several times a week, but it really is not always\u00a0possible. We have to forgive ourselves and move on with our lives and understand that it is okay if we don\u2019t always have the time to participate like we want to. We have to be kinder to ourselves. We have to have the courage like Mr. Puddy’s Mom did to understand that sometimes you just have to step back a bit and walk away for a while. I greatly admire her for that and I applaud Mr. Puddy for letting his human know how important she is to him and how much he missed her.\u00a0Cats are extraordinary teachers and communicators, we as humans just have to take the time to actually listen to what they are saying to us.<\/p>\n

So, as the holiday season quickly descends upon us,\u00a0which is stressful enough in and of itself, we need to learn from Mr. Puddy’s wise message that we can’t do it all and that it is okay that we can’t do it all.\u00a0The world will continue to revolve on its axis if we take a break now and then for ourselves and our families. And trust me, I am at the top of the list of those that needs to learn from Mr. Puddy. I say that I want to step back and change, but I know it is not as easy as that. If I could have a dime for every time I obsessively hit \u201crefresh\u201d on facebook, or \u201csend and receive\u201d on my emails, I could retire wealthy right now. But, I am proud of myself. I promised myself \u00a0I would spend more time outside with my neglected garden and I am very happy to say I did walk away from my computer to spend a few hours outside weeding and pruning over the weekend…<\/p>\n

You will note I have shared a photo of myself and Zoey. Truthfully, I don’t like the picture at all visually (of myself). I look terrible, my hair is awful, and I need a major dose of makeup. But, emotionally and spiritually, this is one of the most telling and special pictures I have captured in time. My happiest moments\u00a0in\u00a0life are those that are shared in its simplest sense. I adore my time with Zoey and she adores her time\u00a0with me. Without fail,\u00a0she will patiently wait for my day to end – I am home from work, the dinner dishes are done and I finally turn the computer off and\u00a0 sit on the couch\u00a0for an hour or so with Dan\u00a0before bedtime. She finds the crook of my legs and settles herself in,\u00a0like that last\u00a0piece that completes a puzzle. She is blissfully content and so am I. This, dear Puddy, is\u00a0what is all about and I\u00a0will always remember\u00a0your post in the spirit it was written.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there is any one more beloved in the cat blogosphere than Mr. Puddy, I would be quite surprised. I do not think there is a single person in my circle of human and feline friends who does not know who this handsome tuxedo kitty is. So, when I stopped by his blog the other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1098,3,1099],"tags":[175,65,174],"class_list":["post-3972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cat-behavior","category-inspiration-healing","category-the-zee-zoey-cats-and-family","tag-cat-behavior","tag-caturday","tag-learned-lessons"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3972"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16208,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3972\/revisions\/16208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}