We have this book. Lots of you guys have probably read it. Its called “Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons.” Pete the Cat is super fun, so if you have kids, look into him. A couple of my cousins bought our kids this book a couple of Christmases ago, and its recently resurfaced as a “new” book. So we read it a lot these days.
I easily know this book by heart now, and so do the kids. They know the pages and the concept. Laela reads/recites it to Rowan almost every day. The story is simple. Pete the Cat’s favorite shirt has four bright buttons down the front of it, and for whatever strange reason, those suckers just keep popping off. But he just rolls with it. Once they’ve all popped off, he accepts his belly button in their place, and thats just it. No fuss, no muss, the end.
But in the last couple of days, I’ve really really appreciated this book. Pete the Cat is profound.
My favorite page goes like this:
I guess it simply goes to show
That stuff will come, and stuff will go.
But do we cry? Goodness, no.
We keep on singing.
Now, its possible that Pete the Cat is a bit more emotionally stable than I am, because I definitely cry when stuff goes around here. But I like where he’s going with it all.
Forgive me (or don’t) for putting a Christian spin on this, but this book reminded me that God gives and takes away, and that we are to keep saying “blessed be His name.” Or, in my words, we’re to roll with it and trust that He’s got it. And he does. Even when it doesn’t feel like it.
While I firmly believe that God did NOT “take” my baby boy from me, I do believe that He knows all things. He knew we would be faced with this devastating situation, and He knew that we could come out on the other side. And we did. But it was hard, and continues to be. But believe me, both literally and figuratively, I AM KEEPING ON SINGING! This is so not over. And I suppose, even if it were, I’d have to find a way to keep on singing. But how I pray that this isn’t the end of the line for us and our family…
I probably sound pretty mixed up. That’s ok. You guys probably know me well enough that you know I don’t always make sense 😉 Perhaps it feels just a bit more like a “rolling with the punches” kind of day. If you’re feeling the same way, know you’re not alone! Me, and you, and Pete the Cat are all working hard to keep on trucking. Or singing. Or rolling. Whatever you want to call it, we’re ALL doing it.
Seriously, guys. Pete the Cat. He knows things.