Cat's Cradle

Archer loves going to the library and is allowed ten books per trip. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to how he picks them. He just randomly pulls books from the shelf and when the quota is hit we self-checkout before Everett can throw a hissy fit or Archer stops whispering. We get the heck out and exhaust our wiggles at the library’s park aka death by vertical log steps and slippery inverted log canoe ramp. I am certain a mother did not design that equipment.

Imagine my surprise when I recently read him Cat’s Colors for a bedtime story. It is the greatest randomly-selected bedtime story I have ever read. As a graphic designer I’m a little peeved I didn’t come up with it first.

Cat’s Colors, by Airlie Anderson, is a simple, almost wordless mic drop of a book. Basically this cat walks around a grayscale world and notices something beautiful on every page, something with color. As she pays attention to the beauty around her a small corresponding spot shows up on her coat. (Fur? What do cats have? Can you tell I hate cats and will only ever own a dog?) She notices the reflection in the turquoise pond and gets a turquoise spot. She notices the green leaves on the trees and gets a green spot, etc. At the end of the book this optimistic, glass-half-full cat with rainbow spots walks into her cat home (lair? seriously, I know nothing about cats…) and you realize she’s a mama cat because there are a bunch of gray kittens waiting to nurse. They curl up like a little kitten halo around her. Then it is night and the page is black. In the morning, mama cat leads all her kittens out into the gray world that is waiting for them…and they are rainbow colored!

I cannot get over this book and how perfectly it paints the essence of motherhood.* What moms see, kids become. Anyone can argue the world is gray and dreary but good moms extract opaque, gem-colored pigments from the pall and paint their kids with it.

My mom painted me with nature appreciation, holiday celebration, and love of stationery and stickers. She focused on the good in everyone, was always down for a Sunday drive, and scrubbed tile grout with a toothbrush like no other. She demonstrated through singing that there were multiple ways to harmonize with others; you didn’t have to be two steps down just to get along with someone.

I have colored RE to talk to anyone, to carve out quiet time away from technology, to see the invisible person, to be vulnerable, to hoard office supplies and blank journals, and to eat peanut butter chocolate chip sandwiches when she’s feeling hormonal. Sadly, I tried to pass on world’s-most-anxious-driver but she wouldn’t accept it.

Being a mama cat is the best! Unless it’s a gray day and you can’t see any colors because, say, your 1-year old screamed for so long on Mother’s Day that you couldn’t hold FHE because no one could hear anyone else talk and he only screamed louder if you took the conducting stick that he was bashing on the keyboard out of his pudgy fist. Some days mama cats just say, “Get your kitten booty to bed before I erase your rainbow and make you wish you were a puppy!”

Cheers to all the color-seeking cats who hunt for joy so they can pounce on it, pass it on, and be chased by it.

*motherhood/parenting/teaching/leadership/friendship/insert-your-own-interpretation-here

Photo quote from Alma 56:48, photo illustration by Airlie Anderson taken from this book: