Believing, part one.

When we got married, a strange thing happened that those of us in the know all agree was a very special thing to witness.  Sometime towards the end of the ceremony, a small black and white cat wandered into the Herb Farm courtyard where we were.  It kept its distance at first, but once the majority of attendees had headed to the bar and tables to wait out pictures, the cat made its presence known in bolder ways.

A couple of times it would wander close to Jav and I during the photo shoot.  At one point the photographer asked, "Do you guys know this cat?  It seems so comfortable around you."  We told him we'd never seen it before.  Then during one shot, when Jav and I were seated on a bench at the back of the gardens, the cat actually jumped in my lap.  It was at that point that the little voice I had been ignoring in the back of my head shouted out, "It's Mamaw!"  I think I may have mentioned it to Jav out loud, but that was all at first.

My grandmother had passed away a month after Jav and I started dating.  She was my favorite person in the whole world, and she never got to meet the true love of my life.  The whole reason I had considered Fredericksburg as a place to get married, originally, was that when my family came to her memorial service, I had said that it was so good to see everyone, but I wished the reason we were all together wasn't such a sad one.  Then Fredericksburg started to really make sense when we realized Jav's family from Monterrey could meet us there and not have to make the much longer drive to Fort Worth.  Additionally, it really started to seem perfect when you realize what a blending of German and Hispanic cultures Fredericksburg has championed for decades.  But my thoughts about Mamaw were the ones that got the ball rolling.

So back to the wedding.  My grandmother was a very strong-willed person.  So it made sense to think that she would have thought of a way to attend her granddaughters' wedding.  And in her own way, let me know without a doubt who she was.  I think we told my mom, Jav's sister, and maybe a few other people about the cat during the reception.  I know I told my friend Cobra, who totally believed in that sort of thing and was certain it was true.  The cat disappeared once the sun went down and the music started, or at least we just didn't notice her after that.  We asked the Herb Farm employees afterwards if that was one of their regular cats, and they had never seen it before that day.  Our photographer was so entranced by the story that he checked in a couple of months later and found out they had found a home for the cat, and he was kind enough to email me to let me know.

I have very complicated, to say the least, feelings about religion and the after-life.  I won't go into all of that here.  All I know is that there are mysteries that we come across in life that are hard to explain, and this was one that I can easily explain.  I know, without a doubt, that that little cat was my grandmother for the couple of hours that we saw her lingering.  I was moved and happy beyond belief that she had figured out a way to be there, and it made the day even more special.  It may sound completely crazy, but it's what I believe.