I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Category: Life

  • How a Bottle-Baby Kitten Became Our Summer Star

    How a Bottle-Baby Kitten Became Our Summer Star


    Remember the three little kittens that lost more than their mittens but were rescued by Pretty who cannot refuse any creature in distress? They made their first appearance here in June.

    Motherless, tiny, hungry, sleepy –

    the kitten invasion began innocently

    My allergies to cats are well documented, but these kittens were going to be temporary, Pretty assured me with one of her smiles that has always motivated me to say yes to whatever she wanted. She promised to take care of them herself without subjecting me to allergy-producing contact, and she was true to her word about their care.

    She bottle-fed them for weeks, carried them with her to work in one of her storage boxes every day from where they lived in our kitchen until…

    They outgrew the box. Kittens seemed to me to have multiplied because suddenly kittens were everywhere. Dashing thither and yon with reckless abandon. They were fearless. Clowns, too. They entertained me endlessly with their antics.

    Neither Pretty nor I was prepared for the resistance my immune system had for the kittens, however. I took Zyrtec every morning and gradually added afternoon and evening doses of the high powered Benadryl with extra antihistamines to provide relief for the sneezing, wheezing, redder than usual itching eyes, headaches that have become unwelcome visitors this summer of 2025.

    Luckily, two of the kittens were adopted to homes that passed Pretty’s ownership criteria in July. Then there was a sole survivor in our house. I named him Bennie, short for Benadryl which if I could invest in stocks, I would choose Johnson and Johnson, its manufacturer. Oh, yes, and don’t forget Kleenex which I consumed in quantities that produced shortages in my Instacart grocery stores. Out of stock. Seriously?

    Our dog Charley became obsessed with Bennie in a good way – he motivated her to move around again – to leave the comfort of her best friend’s Spike’s favorite places in the living room which have been empty since his passing in March. Bennie’s playfulness has been contagious to our elderly dog who chases him from hiding place to hiding place.

    Pretty fell in love with Bennie, too – who’s surprised – but the person who begged to keep him because she loved the spunky little kitten without reservations was our five year old granddaughter Ella, but sadly she suffers from allergies like mine which prevented her parents from adopting him.

    The hot summer days rolled on, and Bennie remained with us.

    how can I write a blog post when you are standing on my laptop?

    I was beginning to think Bennie’s forever home was with Pretty and me when our upstate family rode in on a white horse to save the day. Darlene and Dawn, part of our family from Spartanburg County, convinced one of their neighbors she needed to add Bennie to her cat family. Pretty vetted their recommendation and approved Bennie’s transfer to the higher ground at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

    Bennie in a favorite laundry basket today

    Bennie feels safe with us

    “Dogs come when they are called; cats take a message and get back to you.” Mary Bly (Fun Facts About Cats)

    Despite my whining about allergies, I will be heartbroken to say goodbye to Bennie who has grown on me as fast as he has developed that special personality he owns with joy and spunk. Fingers crossed his new forever home will welcome him with open arms and hearts. His temporary home will not be the same without him. Pretty, Ella, Charley and I look forward to seeing pictures of our little guy who gave us a memorable summer in 2025 ..we love you, Bennie.

    Onward.

  • From Small Towns to Legacy Award: A Love Story of Advocacy

    From Small Towns to Legacy Award: A Love Story of Advocacy


    Teresa and I were totally caught off guard when Harriet Hancock called to tell us we had been nominated and chosen for The Legacy Award from the Harriet Hancock Center in 2025. Surprised, delighted, blown away by the recognition of the contributions two lesbians from the small towns of Richards, Texas, and New Prospect, South Carolina, who grew up in a time before Stonewall, could be celebrated today by one of the defining organizations of the LGBTQ+ movement in Columbia.

    No person has meant more to our community than Harriet Hancock, a friend Teresa and I have admired for more than three decades. The Center which bears her name continues to serve as a safety net for young and old alike in the march toward equal justice for all South Carolinians.

    The Legacy Award is an affirmation of our efforts to live authentic lives together in a time and place before Will and Grace.

    I met Teresa when I wandered into Bluestocking Books in the early 1990s. We were both in other relationships at the time, but we shared values that gave us common goals for our community and ultimately provided the foundation for a personal bond that led to sharing our lives to create a family we both cherish.

    We have no words to express our gratitude to the Harriet Hancock Center and our nominators for The Legacy Award in 2025. You are the future we worked for, and we promise to continue the struggle against the enemies of silence and apathy that have always tried to divide us.

    Please join us as we celebrate six other award recipients for 2025: PJ Whitehurst, Community Advocate of the Year; Elliott Naddell, Youth Advocate of the Year; Senator Tameika Isaac Devine, Political Advocate of the Year; Rainy Day Fund, Community Partner of the Year; CAN Community Health, Health and Wellness Organization of the Year; The Nickelodeon, Arts and Culture Organization of the Year.

    Onward. Together.

  • In beauty I walk – Navajo Blessingway

    In beauty I walk – Navajo Blessingway


    In beauty I walk

    [. . .]

    I walk with beauty before me

    I walk with beauty behind me

    I walk with beauty below me

    I walk with beauty above me

    I walk with beauty around me

    My words will be beautiful

          – From the Navajo Blessingway

    Parts of the general Blessingway, especially the songs, are included in most Navajo ceremonies. Unlike the other healing ceremonies, the Blessingways are not intended to cure illness but are used to invoke positive blessings and to avert misfortune. The Blessingway is comparatively short, lasting only two nights, and is often part of longer rites…As a part of Navajo religious practices, the Blessingway is considered to be a highly spiritual, sacred, and private event. (Britannica)

    The Navajo Blessingway was included this week in the obituary of a fifty-nine-year-old man I met briefly when Pretty worked in residential real estate many years ago. Erik and his wife, Sara, were Pretty’s clients when they came to Columbia to look for a home. Erik’s obituary was a powerful message that introduced me to the Blessingway.

    This particular Navajo Blessingway spoke to me because I feel its truth in the summertime every day that I walk in our neighborhood. Summertime in the South should be called Crape Myrtle Season because the gorgeous blossoms of all colors are at their peak in the heat and humidity that define July with spillovers into August. I have always loved the crape myrtles since I grew up with them in my childhood – the Texas heat was perfect for the hot pink crape myrtles that grew along the small sidewalk at my grandmother’s home in Grimes County.

    the lavender blossoms I saw this morning on my walk

    In beauty I am privileged to walk, thankful for each day filled with a Blessingway. I walk with beauty before me, and I walk with beauty behind me. I walk with beauty below me, and I walk with beauty above me. I walk with beauty around me in the people who are my family, friends, cyberspace followers, all those who inspire values I cherish. I hope my words will be beautiful to everyone who reads them.

    When my words fail, I encourage you to look around…in beauty you walk, too.

  • Tennis, Anyone? Major Fun + Kitten Update

    Tennis, Anyone? Major Fun + Kitten Update


    Time ticking away in 2025 with three out of four Grand Slam events completed for the Women’s WTA and Men’s ATP tennis tournaments this year. From the hard courts of the Australian Open in Melbourne to the red clay at Roland Garros in Paris to the finals of The Championships at Wimbledon played today on the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in London following two weeks of fierce competition, the one remaining Major is the US Open in New York which begins on August 24th.

    Individuals and their families measure the passage of time through different customs, I’ve observed, but I have two constant measurements every year: (1)the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments and (2) the women’s college basketball season. For me, the year is 3/4 gone in July.

    The Ladies Singles Champion in 2025 was Iga Swiatek

    Swiatek routed my personal favorite Amanda Anisimova

    Jannik Sinner 1st Italian man ever to win

    Singles Championships at Wimbledon

    Sinner defeated my personal favorite Carlos Alcaraz who was trying for a three-peat in the championship this year

    Surprisingly, Sinner broke the jinx of the Pretty Preference by getting the best of Alcaraz in four sets to send Pretty to the winner’s circle.

    Meanwhile, in our backyard this morning while I was glued to the television set, Pretty practiced tennis with our five-year-old granddaughter Ella who has recently started lessons. One of the new baby kittens had fun trying to help Ella with her forehand.

    Ella wore one of Pretty’s dresses this morning after an impromptu sleepover last night following a pool party with her family and friends yesterday that was so much fun she decided to spend the night. Alas, Pretty’s dress didn’t help Ella’s tennis focus, but necessity is the mother of invention, right?

    There really is no smooth transition from tennis to kittens, so pardon the abrupt break from Wimbledon to two cats that still need forever homes.

    Having a snooze on Pretty’s lap this afternoon

    loving the open air on the screen porch

    The kittens will go for their first vet visit this week but no longer need to be bottle fed. Great progress, but my allergies persist.

    Congratulations again to Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek for Wimbledon championships – they provided Major fun for our family in the past two weeks!

  • a minor miracle, as miracles go

    a minor miracle, as miracles go


    I felt the bright light before I turned slightly and saw it – a brilliant, intense, dazzling flash behind me in my driveway or was it in the front yard next to the driveway? I’ll never know.

    The loud bang that followed the light shook the ground where I stood in the carport – I’d never heard thunder that loud before, a sound that traveled with me as I realized how close I had been to harm and hurried to climb the three steps from the carport to the back kitchen door.

    What a frightening interruption for a fun day with Pretty who drove me to get a haircut and then pedicures for both of us in a ritual we marked on our calendars every five weeks. Leaving the television coverage from our house during Wimbledon’s ladies’ singles semi-finals, though, today added drama as we watched from our cell phones when we could steal a glance while Esther worked her magic on our feet. We were giddy in Eli’s salon when Anisimova surprised the favorite Sabalenka to fight for a chance in the finals.

    Pretty lowered the windows in our car when we got home and told me to make sure to raise them again in case of rain. As an afterthought she placed two antique dolls on the hood of our car and asked me to watch out for them because they needed to dry from the rain yesterday when they were in the bed of her work truck during a deluge. I assured her I was on top of any precipitation.

    I needed to work in my office this afternoon and barely noticed the drizzle from my office windows when the rain began. I jumped up from my chair and told my dog Charly I needed to go put the windows up outside. She was hunkered down in the hallway.

    As I turned on the ignition to start the car, the rain began to fall with more force. By the time I left the car and closed the door, I was drenched from my short hair to my happy toes. It was a humdinger of a storm that blew up in seconds. I almost forgot the two little dolls on the hood of the car, but I turned to reach for them and found they were already as wet as I was…and that’s when the lightning struck behind me.

    priceless

    *********************

    A minor miracle as miracles go, but someone in the great somewhere looked around and said, Nah, let’s leave the old girl alone – she still has some fight left in her.