I awake to a repeating sound...one...two...three...short bursts that at first I associate with gunshots from a distant television...then I realize my sweet husband has let me sleep in today...he's up and somewhere else in the house...powerful sneezes, stifled so as not to disturb my rest...barely perceptible coming from another room...behind closed doors...where he is doing one of his daily meditations...
This is the second time I have been awakened today by unwanted sounds...the first time there was urgency...imploring...there was not a chance of sleeping through it...she had started by walking back and forth across my body...up, over the top and down...up, over the top and down...she had started at my feet, arriving quickly at my shoulder...where she had leaned in, pressed her head to my ear and screamed at the top of her voice...each ear-piercing cry an entreaty...feed me, feed me, feed me...
The peaceful kitty I remember from an earlier time...
As I had wandered toward the kitchen just before dawn, I found myself wondering...if people get sundowner's syndrome, do cats get sunriser's syndrome?...
Blessedly, I drift off again...knowing that in the other room my dear husband is hard at work to relieve the suffering of all sentient beings...