By Abe Villarreal

While building an altar, an ofrenda, for Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos, it struck me that humans celebrate other humans in peculiar ways.

Ofrendas are truly offerings. A way to give something to someone that you loved for a long time, and maybe a short time too. Among the flowers and the crosses, the candles, and the decorative skulls, are pictures, and mementos of life's little things.

I didn't grow up building altars, but when I pass them in store windows, or in neighbor's living rooms, I always stop for a moment to take in what someone is trying to say about someone else. Someone else that isn't here anymore and isn't forgotten.

I don't have kids and I'm not married. Maybe that will change one day, but for now, all I have at home is my cat Nadya. A cat and everything that belongs to her. That's what I have. Furry toys and catnip. Balls that make ringing noises. A fresh water device that is always flowing. A tower that gives her ability to look down on me and everything else.

The day my grey-haired buddy leaves me she will leave everything else, too. None of her cat friends (if she has any) will celebrate her. They won't make her a memorial or put up her picture. They'll just find a way to move on to the next day without her.

We two-legged kind are different. Holding on to the past and holding on tight is really important. We do it with loved ones, with pop culture, with traditions, with learning. Nadya doesn't do that. She remembers just enough to survive. She knows who feeds her and what door leads to the outside. Most of the time, she knows where the kitty litter box is located.

Beyond that, she lives for the day. Almost all of creation does. There isn't much planning for the future. No debating next moves or planning for disasters. No stressing about the little things.

I want to be like Nadya, and maybe I can if I think about what is most important in my life. What has been written for thousands of years and I've read time and time again. That people behave and think differently from the rest of creation because we were created in a certain image with a specific reason. A higher purpose.

We care about each other on a deeper level and with more complexity. We reach out to others when they are in need. We get involved with each other's business. We also are jealous, and angry. We hurt others that haven't hurt us. We fall in and out of love. We not only do what's right, we also do what's wrong. We are different.

I have a lot of pictures of Nadya and all her play things, her jumpy things, and her sleepy things take up my place. One day, hopefully far down the line, it will be an empty place without her. She has taught me one thing, that what should be valued most is not my past, but what I see in front of me today.

There won't be an ofrenda for Nadya at the end of her time. I might light a candle, and think of life by reading a passage that reminds me why we are different from our beloved kitties.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. – 2 Corinthians 4:17

Abe Villarreal writes about life and culture in America. He can be reached at abevillarreal@hotmail.com.