the circle of life

When I was little - 4 or 5 or so - my grandmother used to trick me into going outside for long periods of time by telling me there were rabbits in the garden. I loved rabbits and wasn't allowed to have one of my own, so those afternoons were full of hope and a lot of sitting still among the vegetables while, I'm sure, my grandmother gleefully cleaned her kitchen or did the laundry. Never did so much as a pointy ear or white whisker streak by on those warm afternoons, but they were a lot of fun.

The point of this story is that I just sent my niece outside to look for a "black kitten with little white feet who likes to rest under the second plumeria tree out back. Not the first one, but the second one. And take the dog with you, okay?"

Love you, Popo. A lot.