Frank Morris, a hardened con with a history of prison breaks, is sent to serve the rest of his life sentence at Alcatraz – America’s most infamously brutal and inescapable maximum-security prison. Morris quickly realizes the prison’s dehumanizing effects and clashes with its cruel warden. Fed up with life at Alcatraz, Morris and two convict brothers meticulously plan the unthinkable: an escape from the island.
Now you may be thinking to yourself, “Isn’t this the plot of the 1979 movie ‘Escape From Alcatraz’ starring Clint Eastwood?” and although you would be presumably correct, this is the closest description I could reasonably relate when considering the disposition of my dear loving cat-child “Mama Kitty” whenever she wants to go outside but I prohibit her from doing so.
Up on hind legs, feverish paws at the upstairs balcony door intensify with each passing breath. She reminds me of those scenes in the prison escape movies where the escapees chisel away furiously at the cell wall whenever the guards leave them unattended. This is her way of telling me that she wants to go outside. Most often I oblige her loving demands. She likes to sit on the balcony railing and look down into our backyard. I believe if she were to take a 23 and Me for ancestry the results would highlight some percentage relation to one of the birds of prey (she is a perch cat for sure).
The only time I don’t let Mama Kitty go out on the balcony is when I know I won’t be able to let her back in after she’s gotten her fill of ornithology. So, if I’m on my way to work, or the gym, or if I’m leaving the house for a prolonged period of time, I tell her, “No Mama Kitty, You Can’t Go Out There.” Undoubtedly (by the quite disappointed look in her eyes) she understands that she is now confined to the (what her looks suggest) prison of a place that I call home.
I get it though girl! I mean who doesn’t want to breathe in the fresh air, look at nature, and sunbathe? That upstairs balcony porch is her happy place and sometimes I’m just the callous prison guard telling her she can’t get any yard time; but I only do this out of love.
You see, if I know I’m not going to be able to let her in, I don’t let her out. It be hot out there! Plus, there’s no water and no food out there. I for one could not imagine being stuck outside during a South Carolina summer with a fur coat on and no water. I also know Mama Kitty doesn’t like not having options. For instance, if she’s on the balcony and I am home, she knows the door will be slightly cracked and she can push her way back inside whenever she wants to. If I were to leave, her outside, I would have to close the door because as my grandmother and mother would say, “Close that door! We’re not trying to cool the whole neighborhood!”
One day, this whole experience awakened me to a deeper truth: sometimes in life we may think that something is good for us but really it could be to our detriment. Further, there is a higher consciousness that is aware of things that we are not aware of. This loving intelligence (when thing don’t go the way we want to) is saying to us, “No Mama Kitty, You Can’t Go Out There.”
Mama Kitty doesn’t know I’m leaving or for that matter how long I’ll be gone. I can’t ask her, “Hey, are you okay with being out here for 8 hours alone?” So, if I were to leave her outside, she would probably feel neglected and forsaken. Although inside might pale in comparison to outside for her, I assume her experience of being alone inside for 8 hours with all her luxuries is far better than being left outside for that same amount of time with just the view.
Isn’t this the same with us though?
We may think that person, job, or opportunity is perfect for us but roadblock after roadblock deters us from our pinnacle. With furrowed brows and clinched jaws, we question the heavens– frustration fueling our prayers for sanctification. We’ve been on that proverbial balcony so many times, so why not now? The answer is loving protection. Perhaps you are being spared the rod in some way when a Higher Power tells you, no. Perhaps there is something better for you elsewhere, something that was being constructed for you for years. To that point, no doesn’t mean never, sometimes it just means not right now.
Take heart my friends. If you find yourself hitting a roadblock in your life, or if that job opportunity passes you by when you were sure you were the right fit, or if you can’t seem to un-single yourself, know that you are being protected and guided. You are loved beyond measure and always considered, even and especially when you feel the opposite. If you can’t go left and you can’t go right, take a moment to look at where you are and what is being offered to you in this space in time.
If you haven’t made it to your balcony porch yet, it probably just means it’s not time yet. There is a higher intelligence that loves you, adores you, has your back and is constantly leading you to and for your highest, greatest good, and to and for the highest greatest good of all those around you. You’ll be out there one day but right now, “No Mama Kitty, You Can’t Go Out There!”
