Hi, all.
 
I met a little guy coming across the worn wooden planks of the Bridge.
His name was Brandon, and he had quite an unusual Business waiting for
him.  They all had four feet and whiskers and fur, but one of them was a
CAT!  Brandon's sister Felicia was there, as well as his brother Bear,
and making an appearance from the cat Afterworld, was Kitty Bob.
 
Well, the four of them were delighted to see one another again.  There
was laughter,and a few tears.  Cats are really too vain to be seen crying
in public, and we all had to pretend not to notice when Kitty Bob started
snuffling and pawing at his nose!
 
I had arranged a special luncheon buffet for the five of us; fresh melon
and plump rasins, with a side order of savory, warm, chicken scraps.
(They were a favourite of Brandon, and..well..we had to serve *something*
for Kitty Bob!  Myself, I never touch 'em.)
 
Brandon and Bear had a lot to talk about, they had both suffered from the
same ailment in the World of the Living.  I suppose it was interesting to
hear about, but really, the rest of us were relieved when they dropped
the subject.  (Actually, Felisha told them to cut it out!)Up here, there
is no illness, just health, and healing.
 
Once we had all eaten our fill we got to feeling pretty mellow, so we
started talking about a place to nap.  Kitty Bob added, preferably a
place *in the sun* to nap.  I knew just the place!
 
We strapped on our wings and lifted off into the sky one by one.  We flew
over a beautiful meadow that is slowly getting wetter and wetter with
time.  It is criss-crossed by tiny streams of clear, cold water, and
will someday become a bog, I suppose.  Its long grasses sway and ripple
beautifully in the lightest gusts of wind!  Just past it is a rise, where
the ground becomes dry and grassy again.  And on the highest point of
that rise, is the Fleece Mountain!
 
Ah, the Fleece Mountain!  Hats, scarves, socks, mittens, gloves,
blankies, hammies, fabric scraps!  All in a giant, soft pile.  And yes,
there was a sunbeam for Kitty Bob.
 
It was a particularly delicious nap!
 
 
I met a little girl coming across the Bridge.  Her name was Bubbles, and
she was very worried about her Hoomin Mommy.  It seems her Mommy took
beautiful, loving care of Bubbles in her final illness.  She got up in
the night sometimes two or three times to feed Bubbles,and to stroke the
tension of her illness from her long, soft white back.  (Bubbles was an
albino.)Bubbles felt so cherished at those times!
 
I knew just what to do, although I don't do it very often.  I asked
Bubbles to follow me, and we trotted along a little path in the grass
that lead us past the everblooming lilac tree (white today) and to a
little almond shaped pond flanked by several grey boulders.
 
That water is cold and clear and very, very deep.  It is so still, its
surface is like a sheet of glass, or a mirrror.  It is a mirror of a
sort, but one that looks *through* things, not that just reflects like an
ordinary mirror.  It shows only the truth, and it sees very far indeed,
all the way to the World of the Living.
 
And there, when Bubbles and I stood side by side at the edge of the pond
and looked into it, was the truth.  We saw Bubbles Mommy, we saw right
into her heart.  And there we saw love.  Not love diminished by the loss
of Bubbles, but love stored up like that heart was a battery!  All the
love that Bubbles and her Mommy generated one for another, together.  It
would never run out, it would never run down, and it would sustain her
Mommy for the rest of her life until that day, some far away day, when
Bubbles and her Mommy can be together again.
 
 
I went and checked up on a little girl named Macari, who recently joined
her twin sister Maharet here in the Afterworld.  Do you remember that
little pond I was talking about?  Well, at the edge of that pond, and
just in front of the big grey boulders grows a lush spray of purple iris.
Some of the blossoms are noticably darker than the others, it's really
*two* kinds of iris, growing side by side.
 
We call the darker variety Macari, and the lighter one Maharet.  The
twins wanted to be together forever, and they wanted to make the
Afterworld beautiful!  They asked the Big Boss for his special blessing
to do so, and this was his answer.  Their blossoms are moist and lovely,
mildly fragrant, with bright yellow splashes of pollen on the inside of
the petals.
 
When you see blossoms in the spring, you hoomins are seeing so much more
than you realize!  So tend your gardens carefully, and with reverence.
Collect your boquets with gratitude, and *never* forget to make time to
stop and smell the flowers!
 
Sandee
[Posted in FML issue 4686]