Niño and Niña

It has been often that I have written of the importance of stability in my life. Paradoxically, since Rosemary’s financial acumen made it possible for me to now live without any worries that I find myself with an unstable existential angst. In Spanish that translates to the nice word ‘enajenado’. It almost translates to “someone-elsed”.

There were three pillars of stability in my life in Vancouver. Two were my men friends Sean Rossiter and Mark Budgen, the third was my Rosemary.

There were two other men who were paragons of stability. Malcolm Parry was the editor of Vancouver Magazine and Charles Campbell of the Georgia Straight. Both kept their office doors open. I would enter with story ideas and they would invariably say, “Do it.” That is all gone and I live in an unpredictable world to which I find myself saying to myself what my friend Abraham Rogatnick told me three months before he died, “Alex, I am not long for  this world. I am glad.”

Some of all the above that troubles me has been a tad lessened since I returned from my five day trip to Mexico City. I wrote about, see below.

Pedro Meyer  - An Active Photographer at 91 

And there is something else that has given me an impetus to keep on. My brother and sister cats, Niño and Niña are stable and predictable in many ways. They cling to me and give me a warmth that reminds of Rosemary’s. Niño, in particular stares at me. I suspect he is telling me, “Alex don’t die before we do. If not, who is going to take care of us?”

My two daughters visit me especially when my older one, comes to town from her home in Lillooet. Hilary, who lives in Burnaby, calls me almost every day. Every week and a half she may come to my house, I will feed her and then we will go to a good film at the Fifth Avenue Cinema. But this is not enough. It is the constant presence of my cats that is important. It is coming home from shopping that I think, "Niño and Niña will be waiting for me."

Rosemary was a constant presence my life. My cats give me some of that.