I didn't know

Three weeks ago, Ilya and I adopted two-year-old Mina from Strays Hope for Life.  

*

I didn't know I would love her so immediately, so entirely.

I didn't know I would watch her sleeping: curled into a tight sickle, or all four paws out like sticks.

Watch her osmose: now facing right with her back to me, now facing left with her back to the yellow armchair.

I didn't know she would chirp in her sleep.

I didn't know I would watch her leaping onto the windowsill to listen to the chickadees. The chickadees: never seen, only heard.

I didn't know her ears would swivel independently of her, and of each other.  

That she'd sample her food, then check the perimeter of the room, before settling down to eat.

That she'd tiptoe silently along the spine of the sofa, and also startle at curtains billowing.

Mina the sheriff.

Mina the investigator.

Mina the explorer.

Mina my shadow. A shadow with a will of her own. Sometimes behind me, sometimes ahead. Skittish and playful. Affectionate and mischievous. Soft shadow.

I didn’t know I would love her so immediately, so entirely.

I didn’t know I’d sing to her, and in doing so, feel all the comfort I was giving her, if not more.