Introduction

I’ve always enjoyed making people laugh. A good joke is a break in the seriousness of life. A quick gift that most can afford to take, give or leave. When I retired in 2015 I thought now the joke’s on me. I had time to spend and I decided to pursue old art interests I had shelved a long time ago. Having been a psychologist in private practice with my husband for 35 years, I handed in my psychology license for an artistic one, so to speak.

Oh… I had dabbled in art to help my clients better understand some key concepts in therapy. For example, for one of my first clients, I developed a 10-point pain scale with drawings of facial expressions to reflect degrees of pain. I used this scale with my client, who suffered from a severe communication deficit. The scale helped her to communicate her level of comfort/discomfort to her nursing staff.

Anyway, with my renewed artful concentration in retirement I felt my ink drawings could not portray what I was thinking and feeling. Synchronicity knocked, as I found when e-mailing my artist friends, sharing some sarcastic wit was quite satisfying. The written word could not be interrupted. I was getting my point across. I discovered that any reference I made to the Cheshire cat(1) was an enjoyable way to express myself without social restraint. I identified with the cat’s overly strained smile. I crossed over from e-mails to this short story.

As ideas poured through me, “Cee Cee” was born. While my husband and I were downsizing, writing adventures about an imaginary cat was a great escape. Personally, I was wandering myself, as I experienced the challenges of aging while selling our home.

Well, I can now gratefully say it all worked itself out. I live in a small townhouse now. The things I thought had financial value when I bought them ended up not having so much monetary value when I tried to sell them. Most ended up as donations to charity. That’s a good thing.

Now, delighted, I am back to my art space. Back to my ink drawings, I have kept a positive space I can claim as my own.

Really,

For real.

Rita.