then the cat came back...

After several days of a missing (insanely loved) cat,
skunk spray under the porch (and my car),
computer problems, cabbage worms,
tuition bills, wildfire smoke blocking
the mountain views, chokecherry bushes already stripped bare
when we arrived with our empty buckets,
messes everywhere I look, a living room
only halfway painted (the wrong color?),
two blond sisters
who need some space
and something new to do,
and one mama lying in bed
wide awake at 2 am
considering all of the above...

the cat came back.
She was hungry
but fine.  And then...

everything else
was fine, too.