My Independence Day

by Mewsette

This 4th of July is my 18th Independence Day. If ever a species loved independence and freedom, it is cats. And if ever a cat did, it is me. Liberty is a beautiful word, isn't it? It's one of my favorites. I have a love affair with words anyway, and Liberty is right up there with Laureate, and Valhalla, and Ocean, and Meow. I love liberty because I'm a cat. There's no other way I could live but free. So I know why humans feel that way, too. They should. (If they don't, they should be ashamed.) Liberty and independence are things a cat takes for herself automatically. But they are things that some humans have had to fight for and die for. Why they have to, I don't really understand, but why they do I understand perfectly. I won't pretend I like all the noise when American humans celebrate their glorious independence on the 4th of July. But I don't deny they should have perfect freedom to make all that noise! I won't claim I don't spend the night under the bed; I do. But I'm there when it thunders, too. Loud noises hurt my ears. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Actually, I remember last July 4th the most of all the ones I've known, because I was so very sick. It was kind of a turning point for me. I'd either get through it, or I wouldn't. We hardly noticed what day it was at my house. Nobody knows how sick I really was. But I made it! I came back. I always do. I think the most important and appreciated 4th of July for a long time was that same one; the first one after the 9-11 attack on our country. Maybe our country had been a little sick and not noticing the 4th as much, too. And the USA would either get through that horrible time or it wouldn't. Well, it did. We made it. We came back. We always do.