We miss you Little Hedge Fund

This past weekend was a sad occasion for our little family. Satu's sweet and lively kitty Noodle succumbed to a sudden illness and left this world.

Noodle was a little stray scrappy kitten when Satu rescued her from certain dehydration seven years ago. She joined Satu's family before I did by climbing up onto Satu's lap and pronouncing herself at home. She had a cozy little place there her whole life after that.

The hardest part about loving anyone is that to truely do it, you have to give up protecting your tender heart. You can never know how much time you will have to love someone or if you will be loved in return. If you are loved, it is the most precious gift in the world, but it comes without any guarantees. I think that to love and be loved by an animal is one of the most meaningful connections people can make in life. It is a bond you make without negotiation and it comes without any expectations or strings attached.

We both loved that little cat. For the past year she began to take on the shaggy quality of a kid's favorite teddy bear. Her fur was licked away in spots and one of her eyes didn't work at all, but she didn't throttle back on life. She still attacked the bed sheets and caught little rodents in the basement. When she curled up to sleep with you, it made you feel special. She liked to chase Satu around the house and leap up into doorways. When she ran down the hallway, it sounded like that little six and a half pound cat had a thousand feet.

I have a hard time imagining a heaven usually, but I can easily imagine one for her. The door would always be open to a lush green yard where Noodle could go roll around in the grass. Little chipmunks and birds would be everywhere. Fresh sheets would always be hovering just above the bed ready to fall as she runs wide legged beneath them . The windows would always be open and the plants could be up-rooted or pissed on at her leasure. Most importantly, God's hand, red from being kissed by Noodle's rough tounge would rest gently on her when she naps in His lap purring.

We love you and miss you little Noodle Kaboodle,
aka Little Hedge Fund,
aka Kaboods,
aka Five and Dime
You brought us so much laughter and love.

The well cared for Sims

So Satu has taken her love of unwinnable games to the next logical level. SIMS. In her every day life, Satu will take care of the birds, make sure the cats feel included in the family and give a wayward fern the best new home she can. She routinely places the little armor beetles back on the curtains where they prefer to live and she will hold nightly nightly stake-outs if her frog is in the neighborhood. Now she is nurturing computer people when the real world is taken care of. Here is why living in Satu's SIMS world would be awesome.
1. She worries about them and only wants to play versions where they won't die.
2. She makes sure the dog gets loved enough ( and rewards him when he digs up money)
3. The girls fall in love, but she wants them to have a healthy relationship, so they don't move too fast.
4. Everyone gets invited to the party and everyone gets to dance.
5. She won't let them be mean to each other.
6. They stay sparkly as much as possible.
7. They make time to talk and be romantic even if they are tired.
8. She won't buy them ugly furniture or clothes.
9. They have a VERY well kept garden where there are no weeds and all the plants are lined up.
10. She is concerned about the UFO and as God, she takes the issue seriously.
11. She doesn't make commandments or disasters, she just wants them to be well cared for.
I feel  well cared for in her arms too, and though in my world, people don't just stop working and dance, when I come home, the world she makes for us is just about perfect.

Once upon a time...

Today actually. There is a beautiful princess. She is kind and funny and curious and smart and very, very beautiful, but she doesn't know how wonderful she is because she can't see what everybody else sees when they look at her.
One morning the beautiful princess saw a tiny wrinkle on her cheek from all the time that she has spent laughing in her life. Laughing is a good thing and there is seldom a kind person in all the kingdom with a smooth face, but the princess worries and worries that the wrinkle makes her look ugly. It became the first thing that she sees in the mirror even though it is not what anyone else would notice. To everyone else, the princess is the most beautiful woman in the world. Her smile makes worried people feel hopeful. It makes birds sing and the sun shines brighter when she laughs. When she isn't smiling, the tiny little wrinkle is there to hint at her smile. It is evidence of her nature.

The princess worries about all kinds of things. She fears that people don't like her because she has known a few wicked witches in her time, but the truth is that almost everyone who knows her is charmed by her. She makes people laugh and can be the gentlest soul in the world if you are in need. Even wild animals want to be around her.
Sometimes the princess feels like people think she is a failure because she is not the most famous princess in the land and she doesn't know what the fuck she is doing with her life.
The truth is, we are all lost and don't know what the fuck we are doing. I bet even the queen has to pretend sometimes that she has it figured out. Even prince charming knows how to fake a smile.
Believe me when I tell you that the most perfect thing about the princess is that she is a real person with all the little quirks that real people have. She is warm and has been known to lend an ear to the troubled and a sweater to a trembling friend. She will even find a kind word for a witch when she sees one in need.
The value of life is not in how you make a living, but in the smaller moments you may never even think of again. The princess brightens the world just by being a part of it, and she doesn't even know that she is perfect.