This afternoon I caught Virtute in the middle of an intense dream. I debated for a while as to whether or not I should wake him up because I wasn’t sure if he was having a good dream or a nightmare. As someone who takes great precautions to not watch “scary” movies or play “creepy” video games before bed to avoid nightmares, I also harbour a deep desire to wake people from their bad dreams.
So I finally woke him up. More begrudging than usual after being stirred awake, I asked Virtute if he was having a good dream or a bad one. With a scowl on his face he responded, “There are no good or bad dreams. Your dreams are your connection to the mythical world – they are interpretations of your lived experiences in magical and fantastical ways. Sometimes these give you anxiety and others jubilation. Dreams are the source of creative energy, they are the link to our ancestors, they are the possibilities of our futures.” It was all a bit theoretical for someone who had just been woken up.
I still wanted to know whether or not he was experiencing a dream or a nightmare. So I tried to rephrase my original question. So I asked whether his dream was scary or happy. He stretched out in the cat tree and let his claws dig into the carpeted interior a bit longer than usual. With a sigh, he said, “You don’t get it yet, do you? My dreams allow me to communicate across time and space – that’s both scary and happy. It must always happen that way.”
It was poignant as always. I decided to let go and started to walk away when he called back: “And I don’t spend my evenings watching Game of Thrones with Jenny, you know that show gives you nightmares.”
diaries of a cat named virtute 