Jumping for the Sun
Matt Seinberg

Dakota in the Sun

As I was having breakfast this morning, I saw Dakota, one of my cats, in the window, intently looking at something. The next thing I know, she jumped up at the window a good three feet and landed on all fours. Marcy, my wife, walked over to look at what was outside and said, "She's jumping for the sun."

I thought about that all day and it really hit a chord with me. If a cat can try for something that's unobtainable, why can't the rest of us? I’m not saying I can play baseball as well as do David Wright or Derek Jeter, but I can certainly have fun trying, can't I?

Yoda, from Star Wars, said it best, "There is no try. There is only do."

Think on that thought for a moment.

How often do we say, or have others say, "I'll try to do it." There are those two words, but done in the wrong way. It should be "I'll do it." Take out the “try” and do your best, no one except Yoda will fault you if not done correctly.

It's not as if you’re going to lift an X-wing star fighter from a swamp. You only want to accomplish something at that moment to improve something that needs to be done.

Cats try all the time to do the impossible. They attempt to crawl into tight spots they simply won't fit. They jump to get on a high shelf, but fail and land on all four feet. Then watch them look around and figure out how to get where they want to go.

Can they jump on one table and then jump on something else to reach, finally, that high shelf? The question is why. Well, it’s because it's there and cats have a huge urge to do ridiculous things.

Cats sit on the wall unit, watching a television that is turned off.

We often find one of our cats sitting on a wall unit, which is in front of the television. The cat does this only when it's not on. What's the point in that? The television isn't warm, there's nothing for them to watch.

Cats don't go to work, because they don't have to. They have us to provide food and shelter for them. We humans must go to work to earn money to provide for not only the cats, but also the rest of the human family.

There are days we simply don't want to get out of bed and go to work, yet we manage to drag our butts out and get ready. The fun starts when we arrive at our jobs. Sometimes you're the bug and sometimes you're the windshield.

When you get into work, you're ready to go and perform to the best of your ability, right. Sometimes all it takes is one bad thing to happen and the rest of the day is poo-poo. It could be a nasty customer, an argument with a co-worker or a problem with an out source to truly foul the day up. No matter how hard you try to break that bad juju, nothing works.

I usually go into the lunchroom, have some water and try to clear my head, then head out again and hope for the best. Today was one of those days where nothing went right. I thought of Dakota jumping at the window for the sun, and thought, hey, if my cat can try hard to get what she wants, why can't I?

Yeah, that didn't work. I jumped for the sun and shoved down so hard it hurt.