{"id":1851,"date":"2025-12-08T12:37:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T12:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/?p=1851"},"modified":"2026-04-29T15:37:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:37:27","slug":"a-purrfect-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/?p=1851","title":{"rendered":"A &#8220;Purrfect&#8221; Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My stomach grumbles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wake up at 5:15 am;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">15 minutes later than I normally do<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And hungrier than I\u2019ve ever been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All I hear are the soft thumps of heartbeats,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The slow patterns of breathing,\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The dimness and stillness<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Which only exist between dusk and dawn;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Which I can only experience&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the owls and I are the only ones awake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At this time I am alone,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I don\u2019t feel lonely\u00a0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The darkness is blinding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The silence is deafening.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And yet, I feel serene and at ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of my life is tranquil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I <em>am<\/em> living the perfect life, after all&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I tiptoe to my mother\u2019s room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She\u2019s still asleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I watch as her chest rises and falls<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like waves swashing softly on the sea shore<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wait?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why am I saying this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve never even been to the beach,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve never seen the waves,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve never felt the sea breeze.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Am I enslaved?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No\u2026 I couldn\u2019t be\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I gracefully leap onto her bed&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And lay smack in the middle of her pillow,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Filling up the space right next to her head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I start to purr,\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trying to match my breathing pattern with hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I fail miserably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her breaths are always so much longer than mine\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Except every now and then<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When she comes home from school<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lays on the bed meant solely for sleeping,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Curls up into a ball just like the ones she purchased for me to play with&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And starts to break down;\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bed intended for sleeping transforms into a bay,\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her woes engulf her like a wave,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trapping her under the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She thinks that her sorrows are kept quiet,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like secrets silently shown in the privacy of a secluded beach,\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I\u2019m always watching,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Observing how her heartbeat starts racing&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Never allowing her breath to catch up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is during these episodes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That my breaths are miraculously longer than hers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But right now she is asleep<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And her breathing is still deeper than mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I stand up on her pillow&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And nudge my small head underneath her arm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She stirs,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Groans at me for waking her up \u201cso early\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And yet this time I was actually late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">15 minutes later than I usually wake her up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She rolls on her side,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Picks me up,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Walks to the door<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And locks me outside of her room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I stare at the wooden barricade that separates us.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thin, but impenetrable,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just like the surface tension of the water she submerges herself in<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Which keeps me out&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keeps me away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve always been afraid of bodies of water, anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My mother eventually awakens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">7:30 on the dot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She races past me in haste,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fills my bowl with some food,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Says a short<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ll see you later, Mora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before shutting another door;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leaving for a world that scars her like a war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those seven hours always feel so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The pigeons perched on the patio coo,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sounds from the neighbor\u2019s construction booms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am surrounded by sounds<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And yet the only human whose sound I seek,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The only person I would rescue in a heartbeat,\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The elevator hums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keys jingle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They scratch the wood of the front door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She walks through the entry,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her head hung low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She rushes past me, back to her room,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back to the ocean she keeps drowning herself in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She shuts her door once again<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But forgets to lock it this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I slip through,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sit on the edge of her bed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And purr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All I can do is keep purring;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keep hoping that my precious, pristine purrs<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Will provide her with the same peace that I partake in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe then she, too, will live a perfect life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My stomach grumbles. I wake up at 5:15 am; 15 minutes later than I normally do And hungrier than I\u2019ve ever been. All&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":1862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative-writing","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1851"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2029,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1851\/revisions\/2029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}