Sounds a bit like something an older relative might say as an idiom. “Well you know Jimmy was always off saving a cat.” The more I say it, the more I think maybe it DOES need to be a idiom. For what I have no idea.

But I digress.

I was out in the back flower beds harvesting sunflower seeds and pulling stocks to ready the beds for the winter (FB told me that 2 years ago on this day it snowed! Thankfully not today!). Wrestling with a tough stalk I look up and there is a cat two hand lengths away, just watching me. I said Hello and he continued to watch me. I noticed he was well groomed and had a pretty collar with a tag. I asked if it was ok if I looked at his tag. He seemed unbothered by this request and started to rub against my hand. He lived a street over few houses down that street. While he wasn’t like Breman Town Musicians far from home, he was a bit.

Let’s pause a moment. I have allergies. Thankfully not to many foods but to warm blooded animals with fur. Dogs, cats, horses… the list goes on. So I did weigh this into my thought process about this lost cat. Do I pick him up?? How do I pick him up? I have on garden gloves but short sleeves.

Throwing caution to the wind I picked up the cat and walked with him back to where he lived. He kept meowing and I kept talking to him telling him it was all ok, he was safe and I was just taking him home. I get to his house and ring the doorbell. No answer, I start to fret that his people are off driving around looking for him. I ring again. The guy answers the door and just looks at me. Dude I am HOLDING YOUR CAT. I finally say, uh this is your cat? And he says, yeah he roams around but always comes home. To which I reply, Ok.

I come home. Take a Benadryl. Take a shower and replay this whole thing in my head.  

First off the cat was apparently not asking me to take it home. It was saying I am exploring … go away!  My ability to speak cat is lacking.

But it also reminded me of something I have been working on this last year. I have a tendency to want to help. And I have been working on not assuming people need my help but asking. “How can I help you?” Now granted, not going to help with a cat… but a good reminder for me.