• The first day of school.
• The last day of school.
• 1992. (The price of your peace of mind.)
• I bring you a song. (When all longing is through.)
• The hours. (Wanting with wait.)
• The villages go by like trees.
• (Black books.)
• The way emotion feels inside your stomach.

• The way she stands up & pushes her face into your hand when you hold it above her.
• The way she gets really insistent about it & forces your hand onto her face with her paws.
• The way she'll stand up & stretch with her paws on your leg.
• The way she scratches the floor next to the bowl when she drinks water, like a bull raring to charge.
• The way her eyes get wide & alert when she sees or hears something to play with.
• The way she immediately perks up whenever she hears a pistachio or that little piece of plastic on the kitchen floor (her favorite things to play with).
• The way she meows in the kitchen & the hallway at night, sometimes.
• When she finds something soft, the way she'll stand there & knead it for the longe...

Two of my cats are leaving with my mother for New Jersey. I don't know how I'm going to live without them, I really don't.

• The way she sleeps on my chest & back, or curls up next to me.
• Playing fetch!
• The way she'll drop the broken balloon she plays fetch with on the couch next to you, looking up at you expectantly.
• The way she pants after going at it a while, just like a dog.
• The way she immediately perks up at the slightest sound of that broken balloon.
• Her endearing jealousy, & the way she comes running anytime she sees or hears you petting or talking to one of the other cats, forcing herself between them & your hand.
• The way she meows in feeble protest when you pick her up & hold her.
• The way she meows when you set down the w...