Lilly the Cat, painted 5 years before her birth.I know, it sounds weird. And maybe it is weird. But, years ago, I was obsessed with the idea of writing a children's book about our wonderful cat, Jobie. (No, that's not the weird part-- wait for it.) I drew all different kinds of pictures of Jobie doing all different kinds of things. I thought up adventures for him. He was so smart as well as handsome that the way I thought about it, it was a little like writing a cat James Bond for children. (Still not the weird part.) I still have that idea in my head to write such a story, but I haven't worked on it in awhile.
About a week ago, I was cleaning thorough some of my cabinets of art supplies, and I came across the picture you see above. It was a rough sketch I drew that was supposed to be Jobie playing with a mouse. The only thing was, that unlike most of the other pictures I drew of him, this one did not look like him in the least. Jobie's face was rounder; his ears weren't that big and pointy; his eyes were set differently; his body was fuller (no, not fatter-- fuller); this picture made him look like he had too many fingers. I kept this picture, but it was separated from the others for those reasons.
LillyWhat hit me as I held this picture now, five years later, was that this wasn't Jobie at all.
It was Miss Lilly.
Miss Lilly is our newest addition who came to live here almost two months ago. After Jobie passed away last January, we were devastated, understandably. We still miss him each and every day. But then in November he sent us a little piece of himself in the guise of a new black and white girl cat, Lilly. They are so much alike sometimes that it's scary.
And when I pulled that picture out of the cabinet last week, what I realized was that little sketch wasn't ever supposed to be Jobie. It was foreshadowing for Miss Lilly. As I looked at that picture I drew years ago, I saw Lilly's cute pointy ears, Lilly's closer set wide eyed look, Lilly's slinky slender body, Lilly's thinner face, Lilly's polydactyl thumbness.
Life at this moment had imitated art that happened years ago.
OK, that was the weird part, in case you missed it. Weird, but way cool.
(One of many portraits of our dear, sweet Jobie.) 
4 comments:
Marcy, that is so NOT weird! It is actually beautiful and amazing! It's incredibly touching & mystifying how your spirit captured this in art several years back. Did you ever hear of "automatic writing"? In case you don't, here's a short description: "...since the early days of Spiritualism, automatic writing has been accepted as a way for trance mediums, and sometimes ordinary people, to receive communications from the spirit world".
So, maybe or even most surely, this was a form of "automatic" art ?! Awesome!
Carla :0)
What an awesome story! Yes, that is definitely Lilly!
That is way cool! I love your story and how nice of Jobie to return or send you a piece of himself. My boy Pirate went to kitty heaven in July and I was devastated but I believe he's returned in the form of Osiris, a very playful kitten. Blessings, Nicole
http://www.themoderngoddess.wordpress.com
I have heard of automatic writing-- Margaret Atwood wrote a book that has a character in it who does automatic writing. I'll have to look up the name of that one.
Anyway, I hadn't thought about it in that way, but it's a cool way to think of it.
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