For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger

Last night I finally saw Coraline.

It was fabulous. I pretty much automatically love anything Tim Burton does (I can't wait for Alice in Wonderland), and this film was no exception.

And can I just say that Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton have my love forever for making the black cat a protagonist? I hate how villified cats generally are in film and literature by artists who either simply don't understand cats or are pandering to the popularity of cat-hatred which negates both their value as artists and their understanding of life, humanity and the world at large. Watching Coraline, I was immeasurably gladdened to see a cat's qualities recognized truly.

Yes, I confess: The times when I felt my eyes getting misty were the times the cat was obviously standing as guardian between Coraline and the powers of darkness. I couldn't help but think gratefully and adoringly of Simon, who has stood watch over me through many three o'clock hours in the morning when the bad things were so much easier to believe and dawn seemed too far away to hold out for. One of the singularly greatest gifts God has ever blessed me with is that cat. If I'm absolutely goofy over him, it's because he has been an unfaltering lifeline through years of loneliness, uncertainty, fear and depression; and a continual source of laughter and joy through years of good things, learning and delightful surprises.

And he's just as goofy over me. I get this glowy feeling up under my ribcage because here is a creature who loves Saturdays and Sundays because I sleep in, and he loves to lie around in bed with me, all day if I want; here is a creature who is ecstatic to see me when I come home; here is a creature who can let me be by myself for hours, and then be perfectly content to be with me for hours; here is a creature who sometimes gazes at me as if the sun rises and sets on my shoulders, and as if I'm the most wonderful person on his planet (and this is not his I-want-my-supper look. That look is calculating and irritated). I have the absolute, unquestioning trust of this animal, and I've had it from the first, and my life is unthinkable without Simon.

Someday I'm going to kick back my heels in heaven with Christopher Smart and we can take up a good part of eternity expostulating on the miraculous natures and the elevated qualities of our cats, "for [they are] the servant[s] of the Living God duly and daily serving him."