The best thing to come out
of the past 15 years
is my cat, Leo...
A lanky, fat ginger cat
who sounds like a baby crying
when he yowls for food,
which is all the time...
Very vocal...
And the best thing to happen in my life
is the woman I am now with...
But I wouldn't have been here,
in this place where we met,
if it were not for the past 15 years...
If I had not suffered through
the pain and the co-dependency,
the drama and the isolation,
I would not have learned
how to be a better man,
the man that she wants,
the man that she needs,
the way I want and need her...
Steel blades are fairly soft metal
until they are heated to red hot
in the forge
and quenched in oil
repeatedly...
It changes the structure of the crystalline nature
hidden beneath the surface...
It aligns what was once soft,
unable to keep an edge,
into something that can be honed
to razor sharpness...
The blade will no longer fold
in on itself...
And as with any katana,
the edge of the blade is tempered in this way,
but the back is allowed to be
a softer metal
so that the blade will not shatter...
The back of the curved sword
is the blade breaker,
shattering the blade of the adversary...
The edge is for cutting softer things
like bone and flesh...
And I have been tempered by the fire...
I have become better...
But a blade is just a blade,
able to be wielded by the good and the bad, alike...
But my soul has been tempered also
so that it knows the good from the bad...
And a samurai is useless
without a reason to be,
without someone to protect and serve...
I have found an honorable and humble master...
Someone I can protect
while they also protect me...
And I have my teacher by my side,
Leo, more than just a ginger cat,
he is a Buddha
and he is a warrior
ready to defend those he cares about...
It may sound silly,
but I have seen him roar in like a tiger
when anyone yelps in pain
ready to take on adversaries ten times his size
even though, at any other time,
he just wants belly rubs and snacks
like Hotei, Old Sack, the fat, laughing buddha...
The philosophy of this deity is contentment
and the knowledge that we are all one...
One love...
One goal...
He "comes in billions of incarnations...
Often he is shown to people at the time;
other times they do not recognize him."
He teaches me to see the God in everyone
and everything,
Every person, every animal, birds, bees, and bugs...
And just like in the folklore,
rubbing his belly brings contentment...
Wealth, good luck, and prosperity...
With him I learn to protect and serve my charge...
And all of the people that I love,
here now and to come...
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