The Long Journey Home

September 30, 2012

Starlight began her journey to Connecticut from her birthplace in Virginia on Saturday morning, September 30, 2012.  I spoke to her telepathically when I got into bed the night before and explained that she would be coming to me the next day.

“Be sure to say goodbye to your parents, aunties, siblings, and cousins,” I told her.  “It’s going to be a long trip, but you’ll be in good hands and very safe.”

Starlight seemed very excited and I suggested she get as much sleep as possible.  I knew that I would have trouble sleeping myself, but I did the best I could.  I had spent most of the week preparing for her arrival and I was eager for Saturday’s adventures to begin.

We were very blessed to have good friends who would receive Starlight into their care from Mary at Reprise Siamese in Virginia.  Muffy and Jay, and their dog, Brin, would bring little Starlight to Newburgh, NY, where Lin, another good friend, and I would meet them.

Soon after setting out with Starlight, Muffy called to say that they were safely on the way north.  Starlight seemed to be talking non-stop in feline Siamese, with a broad vocabulary of vocalizations.  Muffy wanted met to speak with Starlight, as she seemed unable to settle down.  A quick telepathic conversation in which I reassured Starlight that she was on her way to me, and Starlight immediately relaxed.  Muffy is still amazed that the conversational Starlight continued talking for the whole trip!

Muffy and Brin

Later on Muffy described that Starlight and Brin were instant friends – that Starlight wanted to get out of the carrier to play with Brin and Brin wanted to play with Starlight.  To keep everything quiet, Brin rode in the front seat while Muffy rode in the back with Starlight.  Brin was on her best behavior, keeping barking to a minimum.

I had promised Brin a toy if she was very good with the kitten on board, and Brin had telepathically helped me choose one for her while I was in Petco buying cat litter.  So Brin was highly motivated.  Of course, I had told Brin that Muffy would have to give permission for this, while in the meantime, we chose a toy of all natural fibers.

When we all met in Newburgh, I quickly checked in with Muffy.  Had Brin earned her reward?  YES!!  Muffy reported later that Brin was totally delighted with her reward and played with it all the way home to upstate New York.

Starlight had been traveling since about 8 a.m. that morning, and we didn’t arrive at my house until about 8:30 p.m.  This was a very long day for a very young kitten – a baby, really.  Despite having food and water available inside her travel chariot, Starlight had eaten only a very tiny can of cat food all day.  She was still wide-eyed and eager with anticipation, full of energy and wanting desperately to get out of the carrier.

Of course, feline introductions had to precede any release from the travel chariot.  Violet and Sakhara had been preparing for Starlight’s arrival throughout her first 9 weeks of life, but until cats actually meet, one doesn’t really know how they will react.[1]  So I decided it was only fair to give everyone a chance to say hello with Starlight contained and safe.

In 1999, when Violet had in arrived at my home as a 9-week old Reprise kitten, Sakhara, who had been with me only a few weeks herself, had immediately welcomed her with open paws and a thorough face-washing. [2]

Violet as a kitten – 1999

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Sakhara

Sakhara and I found each other through the Humane Society, and she had just finished raising her own litter and fostering a few more.  (Sakhara’s first meeting with Violet is described in detail in the article, Violet Returns.)     Now at age 14, I had no idea what Sakhara would do with a new baby, especially as when I suggested she could mother Starlight, I had heard a definite, “No.”

As for Violet, I also had no way of predicting her reaction.  Due to an unfortunate travel accident about 10 days earlier in which Violet’s carrier had fallen off the back car seat onto the floor, Violet had sustained a shock and a nasty jar to her head and neck.  I was sure that she needed a some chiropractic.  She had been growling and hissing and was uncomfortable being touched, and despite my best efforts to get her a treatment quickly, she was still waiting for her appointment when Starlight arrived.

So Violet wasn’t exactly in the best frame of mind.  It became obvious that these two could not be allowed to get together when Violet began stalking the carrier that I had set on the living room floor, shrieking like an attacking bobcat.   After two approaches and two retreats, Violet stayed on the other side of the room to give Sakhara her turn.

Sakhara jumped up on a chair that was near the carrier, looked down from this position of dominance in the feline world, and hissed and spit 4 times at Starlight.

Little Starlight was thunder struck by all this.  Tiny, tired, a bit confused, and now quite frightened, she was trembling.

I picked up the carrier immediately and announced that Starlight would have her own private chambers where she would be very, very safe.  Violet kept hissing and spitting at Sakhara and myself, so I quickly grabbed the cat carrier and took Starlight upstairs.

While trying to reassure Starlight, I began setting up the space to accommodate her.  There was already a litterbox there, so I let Starlight out to stretch her legs while I quickly got the smallest cuddle cup and a warm throw from downstairs, some dishes and a can of cat food.  By the time I had the room in order, I discovered that Starlight was hiding.  Where had this talkative kitten gone?

Thank goodness she IS talkative.  All I had to do was ask, “Starlight, where are you?” and she would make mewling sounds that I could follow.

I discovered her behind a large and extremely heavy mirror that was just resting against the wall.  My heart in my mouth, I tried to get Starlight out without frightening her more or allow the mirror to slip.

Starlight ran and crawled up inside the baseboard radiator!!

Can you imagine how tiny this kitten was that she could crawl up into a baseboard?  The one in her room goes around a corner and that’s where she got up on top of the pipe and got stuck.  It took all my training in Ascension preparations to stay calm.   I knew that if I got upset, she’d really freak out.  I also knew there is no way to take apart a baseboard radiator without making a big noisy racket.  My goal was speed, not quiet.  I HAD to get that kitten out FAST!!

In less than 30 seconds, Starlight was released and running across the room.  My dear little brave Starlight.  I knew I had to get hold of her immediately and she is the quickest little girl on 4 legs.

Miraculously, I caught her, sat down on the floor, grabbed the bottle of Rescue Remedy, held her gently but firmly against my heart, opened my heart center, and began making calming noises as I stroked and reassured her that she was completely safe.  I apologized for all the uproar and waited for her to calm down and stop shaking.  I kept putting more and more Rescue Remedy on her as I stroked and talked to her.  She was shivering.

I finally got Starlight settled for the night.  It was now midnight.  I had been up since about 4 a.m.  Starlight was here and safe, if a little shaken up.  She had eaten a bit, but hadn’t really urinated or moved her bowels the entire day.  Still, she settled into her new bed and I turned out the lights.

Downstairs, Violet was prowling around snarling and hissing.  I still had to go down and settle her and Sakhara for the night.  Fortunately, I had arranged for a neighbor to feed them at 5 p.m., but they really hadn’t eaten much.  So I spent some time with them before going to bed.  I turned up the heat  to make sure Starlight was going to be warm enough, as the weather here in Connecticut had suddenly turned very cool.  Autumn had arrived in the middle of all the excitement.

On Monday morning I would call the chiropractic veterinarian and get the first appointment they had for Violet.  I was certain that she must be in constant pain to have completely “lost it” when meeting Starlight.  She wasn’t letting me go anywhere near her and it was totally out of character for her to be so upset with Sakhara.

I set the intention that Sunday would be a much calmer day.  Saturday had actually been an amazing, miraculous day, albeit exhausting for the entire family.  I went to bed happy and tuned into the energies of my 3 beautiful cats, listening for the baby cries of an upset kitten.  Fortunately, Starlight and I slept for the next 4 hours.

The story continues in A Reincarnation Adventure Part 8: Spiritual Musings

* * Footnotes * *

[1]  Domestic felines of all breeds are most like lions in their family relationships and natures.  While sisters and aunts will share the care of the young, an outsider who smells different because of diet and genetics is fair game to kill.  When a new lion king wins the pride, he immediately kills all the kittens to bring the females into heat so his gene pool can begin creating new cubs.

Smell is the primary sense used to identify who is “family” and who is “enemy.”  Even though Starlight had ridden in a carrier on an old tee shirt of mine that had my scent along with Violet’s and Sakhara’s, clearly that was not be enough to overcome the scent of a different gene pool and a very different diet.

To me Starlight had a rather milky aspect to her scent – that of a nursing baby – and if my relatively weaker nose could smell the difference between her, eating canned food, and my two older gals who eat raw food, to my cats she must really smell foreign.

[2] Sakhara’s willingness to adopt kittens who had lost their mothers and who were not related to her at all is quite extraordinary for a mother cat.  I don’t know if she was given babies while her own were still nursing or after they were weaned, but the Humane Society had asked a lot of her and sweet, loving, generous gal that she is, Sakhara had given her all.  Still, this is most unusual.  I suspect if she had not been grieving all those kittens her attitude towards Violet when she arrived at 9 weeks of age might not have been so generous.