Missing Mr. Rogers

I’ve written a few times about my first male mule, Mr. Rogers. Sweetest animal I’ve ever encountered.

That opening photo was the “T” tattoo on his shoulder that he arrived with at Casa Claire, which morphed into the “J” tattoo in The Claire Saga.

MR was the love of Claire’s life. They were inseparable.

Claire was devastated by his abrupt passing. Inconsolable. I’ve never heard her make that Banshee sound before or since.

It was the first time I wept at Casa Claire. I had held it together until Everett (yes, he and Michelle both exist) stopped by and asked me how I was doing. That’s all it took.

Honey was a godsend, Claire’s little sister, but she could never replace the hole in Claire’s heart left by MR.

Yesterday, as I was heading out to do my rounds, I spotted Claire and Honey out by MR’s grave.

Claire was just standing there, her head bent in supplication. Right above where the physical body of her forever beau sleeps eternally.

When I returned from my rounds Claire had lay down at that spot above his grave. Honey lay down directly behind her in support.

My apologies for the poor photo quality. It was shot from a distance. That small wooden square in front of Claire is an old school monument that reads “Mr. Rogers Forever Home, Home Forever”. It was based on a promise I made when I first adopted him. He had had a very tough life and been rescued from a slaughter auction (Yes, humans can be that barbaric). I promised him that he would always have a home at Casa Claire. Promises kept.

Now I’m not sure why Claire spent yesterday morning in particular sitting shiva for her lost love. I didn’t see her again until around noon, when she banged on my back door demanding a tithe for her and Honey. Mourning makes mules hungry. They got a little extra.

I’d like to think that Claire may have been responding to the mystical 11-11 Portal being in play – the veil was thinned – and MR stopped by to let Claire know that he’ll always be with her. I think it is moments like that where we remember that life on this energy plane isn’t the last station on the universal subway line. We go on. The law of conservation of energy. https://www.thoughtco.com/law-of-conservation-of-energy-605849. Like those heroic members of the armed forces we remembered yesterday.

And my books and my blog are my own small attempts at capturing a brief part of the journey and the players in this more personal play. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56966/speech-all-the-worlds-a-stage

Today is Tuesday, Monday happily behind us.

You fine, five readers roll up those sleeves and get to work. Remember, get those tasks completed by Thursday, so Friday remains a soft launch into the weekend.

I’ve got some legal work to attend to, just as soon as I can get Smokey off my lap,

then cuddle and feed Mittens and then make my rounds.

And while you fine, five readers are out performing your important roles in your respective and collective scènes à faire, make sure you remember your lines.

But no matter what performances we are engaged in, let us make today a great one.