Chin Chin — Source: Kiko’s House
Through our cats, each named Kiko, I was first introduced to Shaun Mullen.
You see, like us, Shaun also had a lovable cat named Kiko. And, like us, he named his Kiko from the Los Lobos song, “Kiko and the Lavender Moon.” Having never met Shaun, only sharing a few emails around the time of our Kiko’s death in December of 2008, I continue to feel a connection through his blog, “Kiko’s House.” This morning’s Kiko’s House blog entry is “Chin Chin (ca. 1998-2011).”
“Most rescue cats come into the lives of their new owners in cat carriers or by meowing outside of doors until they are fed. However, chin Chin or Chin has she came to be known, arrived in a pillowcase.”
We, too, now have a rescue cat, Kika. Although unlike Chin, we know little of her earlier life, other than frightened and skittish, she was not an abused cat. Having “. . . lived unhappily in a house dominated by thuggish owners and a big dog, and I would see her tiny black-and-white self peering at me through a lace-curtained window when I would pedal by the house on my mountain bike during morning rides.”
Chin was nurtured back to health, living with Shaun and his family for three and a half years.
“People ascribe great virtues to their pets and can be forgiven the hyperbole that usually accompanies their oohs and aahs.
But Chin did have a special virtue. She had been abused and neglected and then abandoned, yet she had great sense in her tiny head and great love in her big heart in adopting us. Believe me; it was not the other way around. And for a few short years, she gave us a joy that we gladly reciprocated.”
Our animal friends always bless us with love and attention when most needed. (Click here to read Shaun’s complete posting.)
I wrote the following poem about Kiko, two years ago:
He was in my shadow network
Stopping when I stopped
Playing when I played
Sleeping when I slept
Always by my side.
When he danced, I would dance
But never in lock-step,
Only to the rhythm of shared music.
With each step, he took my heart
Building a crescendo of love.
Now the music is silent
As I move in darkness
No shadow at my feet
Only fallen tears of memories
Keeping me close to his ways.
But, darkness will not last
For his name is the password
To the ways of love
And the light of the lavender moon
That will always spawn his shadow.
— kenne
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing this.
Reblogged this on Becoming is Superior to Being and commented:
The Kiko connection — posted on February 19, 2011. Shaun Mullen passed away on December 14, 2019. — kenne