Sophie's Story

  Hello!     This is Scamp. Colby and I have decided to give Sophie a break and wrote the column this week. Since it is Thanksgiving, we are going to write about the things that we are thankful for. Yes, cats can feel grateful. We just think that it is in poor taste to show that gratitude too often. Our humans may take us for granted.   Since I am already at the computer, I will start. I am thankful for my grooming comb and brush. My new grooming comb is very nice. It has rounded metal teeth that don't scratch my skin. It also doesn't tug or pull quite as hard as my old comb does. The brush is nice too. I like it when Sophie lets me rub the sides of my face against the brush. It feels good especially against my whiskers.    We got a new water fountain this year too. It is shiny and not plastic like our old one. Sophie says that it will be easier to keep clean. I like it because there is a place where the water comes out and it streams into a bowl. I like licking at the wat

   Something was missing. I noticed that after the paper ghosts and witches were removed from my store the day after Halloween the ceilings were bare. That's not usual. At this time of year there is always some sort of decoration.   I looked in the seasonal aisle and found my answer. The seasonal aisle was filled with Christmas candy. The missing decoarations were the turkeys and cornicopias that are associated with Thanksgiving.   Of course, it all makes sense now. No one wants to put up Thanksgiving decorations when the whole focus should be solely on Christmas. Thanksgiving isn't really important. It's almost in the way. Why should we have to be inconvenienced by this nothing of a holiday? There are deals to be had, money to be spent and profit to be made. Yes, we all like the day off, but what good does it do us if we can't go out and shop. Really. People who work retail should know that the most important thing is to get all the good stuff while it is still on

   Bishop Nealy handed me a packet of papers in a clear plastic folder. It contained notes written to me by people in the Church during a recent meeting. I thanked him and took the packet.    The next morning I got up early and took the packet into the kitchen. There, with a warm cup of tea beside me, I read each of the notes.   Tears ran down my face as I read them. Not because they were mean-spirited, in fact it was the complete opposite. I was described as "amazing", "a beautiful spirit","a great example" and "a forgiving, loving person". Many of the notes expressed gratitude for being a friend, for being supportive and for being virtuous.    I looked over the papers again after I had read them. It wasn't some bizarre practical joke. The notes were all in different handwriting and signed. I recognized all of the names and knew all of them were at the meeting. I know each person that wrote a note. I know some of them well. I was very c

   Recently my friend, Sherri, sent me two pictures via email. Both of them were pictures of us from many, many years ago. The first one was a picture of Sherri and I with an older man standing behind us. The older man was Grandpa Bill. Sherri and I, unlike most of out classmates, did not have grandmothers and grandfathers that lived nearby. Sherri's grandparents lived in South Dakota and mine lived in Wisconsin. We had somehow adopted or were adopted by Grandpa Bill and his wife, Grandma Clare, and looked to them as substitute grandparents. We both spent many happy times with them.    The second was of the two of us. There was snow in the background and we were dressed in coats and white boots. Each of us had a small pail of snow in our hands. In the subject line of the email Sherri wrote, "Remember this?"   I didn't remember anything about those two pictures. I didn't recognize any of the backgrounds in either picture. I have no idea who could have taken th

   One I the things that I get to do once a month is to teach a Relief Society lesson. Relief Society, for those of you that don't know, is the women's organization for those that belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. LDS women  over age 18 are members of Relief Society.   Every Sunday RS meets for about an hour. Someone is designated to present a lesson each Sunday. This coming Sunday is my turn to teach the lesson.   This is one of my favourite things to do. I love to teach. I always look forward to the Sundays that I get to teach. There is a manual that I follow and this Sunday  the lesson is titled, "Loving God more than we love the world." I can see I'm about to lose some of you. You're thinking, "Oh no. She's going to preach to us." Keep reading for a bit please.   When I read over the lesson the first thing that came to me is that this is a lesson about priorities. What is important to us. The next thing that came