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  • Writer's pictureSimsy Marie

The Cat in The Clouds. A Mother’s Day Tribute.

Something strange happened two weeks ago. I made a video on a Facebook Courtroom drama and asked mum for help with the editing. As usual, she did a great job. However, at the end of the video she added a scene of a cat shooting lightening from its paws in the sky(see screenshot below). This left my family and me confused as the cat had nothing to do with the video content.



When I shared the video on our family chat, mum commented “chile you are mad”, to which my older brother Kirk responded, “I think the editor is just as mad”. For days we secretly tried to reason why mum would add in that scene. It was just so random. Finally, my younger niece, Brittany, couldn’t take the suspense anymore, she confronted mum “Gigi, really, just tell me, why the cat?” My mum’s response: “it reminded me of your Aunty Simone.”


Mum and I have always been very close. Before my nieces and sisters-in-law entered the equation, we were outnumbered by the boys as I was the only girl with three brothers. We spent a lot of time together, shopping for a new church dress every Easter and going to tea. I remember following mum around the house chatting non-stop. She would stop walking abruptly and I would bump into her and we would both laugh. She has always been my best friend and understands me better than anyone else. This is why her response to Brittany’s question left me perplexed. I reminded her of a cat in the clouds shooting lightening!?!


Mum has always had a very animalistic and wild interpretation of what it means to be a woman. As a child I remember her reading “Women Who Run with the Wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, and her favourite poem is “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou. She is free-spirited and believes women should be “real” and powerful while maintaining their femininity. Whenever she tells us that women should be allowed “to just be”, we tease her with the phrase “untie the strong woman!” (the name of another book by Clarissa Pinkola that she loves).


I soon forgot about this feline interpretation of my personality in the day-to-day humdrum. It was only last Thursday when I took Alba to the park that it sprung back to my mind. Alba is obsessed with pigeons. She loves them so much that Hasani bought her a disturbingly realistic looking stuffed toy pigeon whom we named Jean Jean le pigeon. She plays with Jean Jean every day. The problem is that she now thinks all pigeons are Jean Jean and wants to touch them.


Last Thursday in the park I left her to crawl around to burn off some energy hoping it would lead to a long naptime. I was amused when she sped off in the direction of the pigeons. However, that amusement slowly turned to concern as she stealthily approached one that was sitting in the grass. It didn’t take long for my mummy brain to calculate that Alba was going to make a grab at that pigeon. She was stalking her prey; her eyes were fixed on her target. I quickly ran up and stomped, scaring away the pigeon and saving him from the grasp of Alba’s outstretched hands. She turned to me and screamed in anger. I picked her up and made my way back to the stroller. I left the park contemplating her predatorial tendencies. Eerily, we came across a cat sunning on the way home.





I shared the pictures on the family chat of Alba and the pigeon. Kirk called me last night to tell me, “Simone that is the meaning of the cat!” It suddenly all clicked. I am still here to grab Alba and reign her in when she goes seeking adventure. But to mum I am now out of reach and blossoming into my own womanhood, wild and untamed like she raised me to be. To her, I am like the cat in the clouds shooting lightening from my paws.


"Now you understand

Just why my head’s not bowed.

I don’t shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing,

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It’s in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

the palm of my hand,

The need for my care.

’Cause I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me."


Happy Mother’s Day Mamacita

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