Benjamin and I are the first ones awake. This is the natural consequence of the fact that he and I go to bed on the early side while the rest of local Odhners stay up late. 

The other day I was sewing and had already checked on the garden hose through the little used door off of that room. The project under the needle was batik cats. I knew they were authentic because of the wax smell when I ironed them. Ben was practicing camp songs in the living room. Then he called me. 

"Look!"

I came out to find a tabby cat exploring the smells on the coffee table. This was not the familiar cat who often naps on our deck chairs, nor the white one who was stuck in a tree across the road last year. Hence I didn't know her name, but she allowed me to pick her up, pet her silky fur, and show her the exit. 

"Rascally cat!" Ben could not sort out whether he was scared, surprised, or intrigued. Most of the animals he encounters are animated. 

I was tickled at the serendipity of it. Cats are a rare theme in my quilts. I can only recall two in the past dozen years. Yet the feline happened to show up just as I was trimming cat blocks. 

"It's back!" Ben was amused. 

I found her rubbing against the couch leg, as cats are famous for, and addressed her. 

"How are you getting in?" I gently set her down on the front step. 

Back at my machine I looked up to notice the door to the garden. It is rickety, and doesn't pull shut without coaxing. That was her entrance. I stood up to close it and saw her through the window. I offered a greeting. 

"Who are you talking to? " Ben wanted to know. 

"The cat. She is friendly." I enjoyed the fabric in front of me all the more because of our visitor. 

Later that day I parked myself on a chair in the clothes store for ninety minutes while my daughters and their friends shopped. These outings are numbered, because they will soon be licensed to drive, and such invitations to chauffeur will be moot. They will instead offer a quick goodbye, keys in one hand, phone in the other. 

It would be plausible to categorize such an errand as a nuisance. An interruption in my own agenda. Yet I chose to leave open the possibility that these fleeting moments are as precious as those spent going out for a smoothie, or lingering after supper. I do, after all, get to watch while they try on beauty for size, and rub up against color choices and body image. When I leave such options open, it's remarkable what saunters in.