Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
Let's relax and get all comfortable in our beds so that you can soften your muscles like you go of your day and start to sink deeper and deeper into your soft,
Comfortable bed.
Heidi,
Cherry and Veya were laid in their soft,
Comfortable bed.
They were super tired.
They'd had a really busy day.
They'd been to the pool with a bunch of their friends.
And you know what it's like if you're playing the pool.
You start to get very tired,
Very easy,
But first you get super,
Super hungry.
There's something about playing in the pool or going swimming that makes you really hungry,
Don't you think?
Anyway,
The cats had eaten a really,
Really big vegan pizza for dinner,
Like they had four slices each.
It was a super giant pizza and it had tomatoes,
Olive oil,
Garlic,
Mushrooms and vegan cheese all over the top of it.
And it was delicious.
And they were super full with big fat dinner bellies.
And now it was bedtime.
They brushed their teeth because that's important.
You don't want to leave all the food and bacteria in your mouth from the day.
You got to brush your teeth so that your teeth stay with you all your life.
So they brush their teeth.
They put their comfortable pajamas on,
Especially important when you've had lots of pizza.
You need comfortable pajamas to sleep in.
They were all laid on their comfortable,
Soft,
Big,
Giant cat bed.
And Heidi had decided to read them a story.
Well,
She didn't decide to read them a story.
Cherry practically talked her into it.
Cherry was going on about how she wanted a story.
Oh,
Go on.
I'm so tired.
I'm so tired.
My bones are practically melting as I lay down.
Like you know sometimes how you lay down and you feel,
You can feel it in your body,
Can't you?
You feel like your body's just sinking and melting and just falling and flopping and like dissolving into the bed.
And you're like,
Gosh,
I'm so pooped.
I am so absolutely,
Tragically tired.
That's how I feel.
I feel so tired.
Feel so happy though.
Really content because we had a really nice day.
And it was so much fun.
And we had so much exercise,
Didn't we?
We played so hard in the pool with all our friends.
We played like catch the ball.
We played like going down the slides.
We played like diving down the bottom of the pool to find like,
You know,
Those pool object things that you drop down and then you have to dive all the way down to the bottom and see if you can open your eyes underneath the water,
Which is always kind of weird.
And then like you find the thing and then you come back up.
And we did that so many times.
And then we played Marco Polo,
Marco Polo in the water.
That was really fun.
Oh,
Faye,
You were so funny.
At one point,
All your fluffy white hair was like over your eyes and you couldn't see anything.
And you were going Marco Polo and you just look so funny.
And I was like,
Faye,
It looks so funny when she's wet.
She looks like a drowned rat.
She's so funny because normally you're all white and fluffy and like really,
Really cute.
And then you get wet and you're like,
Where did Faye go?
She's all fur.
Anyway,
Yeah.
So I'm so tired,
But I'm so happy because we were so,
I'm so grateful for one.
I'm grateful that we had such a nice dinner.
I'm grateful that we had dinner because you know,
Some people don't get dinner.
Poor things.
Some people don't get meals very regularly.
I can't believe that there's a world like that,
Heidi,
Can you?
Heidi said,
No,
I know.
It's very sad.
It's very disappointing to think that people in the world don't always get a regular meal.
And sometimes,
Quite often,
They go hungry.
And that's the same with lots of animals too.
There's lots of animals that live on the street and they go hungry.
It's so sad.
It's just so sad,
Said Cherry.
Vea said,
I don't understand it.
How could that happen?
How can we be in a world like that?
Why aren't we all taking care of each other?
Heidi said,
Yeah,
I know.
Anyway,
Are we ready for this story?
Cherry and Vea snuggled down even more into the bed and got comfortable.
And Heidi said,
I'm not going to tell you what the story is.
It's a surprise.
But I think you'll both like it.
Once upon a time,
A long,
Long time ago,
In a faraway land,
There was a cat called Cherry.
Cherry smiled and said,
Oh,
I like it when I'm in stories.
There was also another cat called Vea.
Vea said,
Oh,
I'm in there too.
Cherry and Vea were cats that lived on an island.
Cherry said,
Wait a minute.
I thought we lived in a faraway land.
Vea said,
Yeah,
But you know,
That could be an island still.
Cherry said,
Oh,
Yeah,
Yeah,
You're right.
It could come to.
.
.
All right,
Shut up.
Shut up.
I'm not going to ask any more questions.
Heidi said,
The cats lived on an island.
It was a very special island because the island was surrounded by sharks.
Cherry was killing herself.
She really wanted to ask questions and interrupt,
But she didn't.
So what she did was just held a paw up to her mouth and bit on it every time she wanted to say something or interrupt Heidi or ask a question.
She was like,
No,
No,
I'm going to stay so quiet.
I'm going to be such a good listener.
I'm going to be such a good listener.
It was surrounded by sharks,
Said Heidi once again.
Big,
Giant,
White killer sharks.
Cherry was really having a hard time.
She bit down even harder on her little paw like,
Oh my gosh,
OMG,
Sharks,
Killer sharks.
Why were they living on an island surrounded by killer sharks?
What the heck?
How are they going to get off that island that's surrounded by killer sharks?
She had so many internal questions,
But she wasn't asking them out loud.
She was being very,
Very good listener,
A very good listener.
Heidi carried on.
The island was like no other island.
It had everything that you could ever need on it.
Heidi paused because she knew Cherry wanted to say something again.
And internally,
Not out loud,
Internally,
Cherry's eyes rolled up to her head and she was like,
I wonder if they have washing machines.
I wonder if they have a dryer.
I bet you any money if they have everything you ever need.
There's a vacuum cleaner.
Anyway,
Heidi carried on.
There was every type of food you would ever need.
It wasn't like a typical island where all there was there to eat was coconuts or you'd have to catch fish or maybe you could eat some berries from the trees or different things like that.
No,
This island was a very magical,
Special island in the middle of nowhere,
Far,
Far away where Cherry and Veil lived and everything was in abundance.
Everything that you would ever need was on this island.
So you didn't have to get off the island ever because everything that you ever needed materially was on this island.
Cherry noticed that Heidi said the word materially,
Like she emphasized on that word.
And in her mind,
Instead of asking out loud,
In her mind she was thinking,
Why did she say it like that?
I wonder why she said the word materially like that.
But the thing was,
Said Heidi,
The island was surrounded by sharks.
Killer sharks,
Which meant they could never leave.
They could never leave this island.
Not safely anyway.
They couldn't swim off the island to a different island.
They couldn't make a raft because the sharks would have just bit through the raft.
They were giant sharks,
Really big,
Like white sharks,
Like really big with lots of teeth.
Cherry thought inside of her mind,
Wow.
Heidi's really going on about these scary sharks.
Why are they so scary and killery?
Why are they so big?
Why is it so important that these sharks are surrounding the island and we can't get off the island?
I'm sure there's like another point to this.
I bet there is.
I bet there's another point to this.
I bet there's some kind of like fable in this story.
You know,
Like a secret message or something like that.
Heidi said.
So what were two cats to do?
Were they to be happy on this island?
Because there were no other animals.
No other people.
Just cherry and Veya.
That's all that lived on the island except for an abundance of everything that you could ever desire to eat or that you would need.
But no people.
No friends.
No animal friends.
No human friends.
No other friends.
No mom and dad.
No Heidi the sister.
Just cherry and Veya on the island with anything that they wanted.
Heidi said,
Veya,
Would you like to go there?
Veya said,
Hmmm.
I don't know.
I think part of me would like it because it would be really fun to go to an island that had everything that I ever wanted.
I could get so many princess dresses.
I could get so many new princess shoes.
I could have like a giant wardrobe with everything I want in there.
I could have all of the music I wanted that I could dance to.
I could have all of my favorite foods.
I could have princess journals,
Princess headbands.
I could have princess hair bubbles.
I could have princess toothpaste.
I could have prince.
.
.
I could have everything princess.
That would be so nice.
I like unicorns too.
I could have everything unicorn.
I also like mermaids.
I could do everything mermaid.
I could have like different parts of the island that were in different things.
Like I could have a mermaid part of the island.
And I could have a unicorn part of the island and then I could have a princess part of the island.
But then I think I'd get lonely because after a while all of those material things wouldn't probably be enough.
I think I'd miss my friends.
Cherry Interrupted,
OMG.
This is such a good book.
This is such a good story.
It makes you really think,
Doesn't it?
Because as you were talking,
Vea,
I was like,
Oh gosh,
I have such a long list of things I think I want or things I need.
Like new toys and new games and new clothes,
New makeup,
New everything.
You think you always want something,
Don't you?
You think you always need something.
And it would be really,
Really nice to have all of those things.
It would be so much fun.
And it'd be like,
Oh gosh,
What should I eat today?
I can eat this.
I can eat that.
I can eat this.
I can eat that.
And the list just goes on and on and on and on and on.
But then,
Yeah,
I think I'd get really lonely too,
Vea.
I mean,
What's the point in having all that material stuff?
If you're alone,
Like,
You know,
Just me and you,
I mean,
I love you,
Vea.
I do,
But I'd miss Heidi and I'd miss my friends and I'd miss my mum and dad and I'd miss everybody in my world and I'd miss meeting new people and I'd miss having conversations with new people because every conversation that you have with someone is always different,
Depending on the person.
Me and you,
Vea,
We just have the same conversations all the time and we'd probably get really bored of each other.
And I'd miss the opportunity to meet a boyfriend.
Vea said,
Oh yes,
That's very important.
Yeah,
Right.
I mean,
It's nice to have you girlfriends,
But I like boys.
I'd like to have like a boyfriend,
My boyfriends as well,
Because they're very different and I play different games with them and I have different conversations with them and I have so much fun with them and if it was just a girl island,
I think I'd get bored and I'd want boys around too.
And I would actually want like a boyfriend boyfriend because it's nice to have cuggles and snuggles and things and it's nice to be in love and be romantic with someone.
Oh yeah,
Yeah,
No.
My answer is no.
I don't want to be on that island in the middle of nowhere,
Far,
Far away with an abundance of everything material.
I think I'd rather choose people and animals and conversations.
Vea said,
Mm-hmm,
Hooray for that.
Yes,
Me too.
I totally agree.
Heidi said,
Wow,
I love you too.
You guys are so awesome.
I think I'd do the same.
I mean,
If I had an island where I had every single book I could possibly ever want,
I'm sure it would take me quite a long time to get really bored because I would have to read all of those books,
Libraries upon libraries upon libraries of books.
It might take me a few years,
But then eventually I'd be like,
No,
I need my friends.
I need other people.
I need other conversations.
I need real connection with people.
Material things are okay,
But they're definitely not that important at the end of the day,
Are they?
Being with each other is really important.
I love you guys,
Said Heidi.
Cherry and Vea and Heidi all had a big cat hug.
They snuggled up together,
Got super,
Super loving and comfortable.
The story was a good one because it made them really think.
It made them really appreciate the people that they love and the animals that they love in their lives.
And they fell asleep in a state of gratitude that they had each other.
The end.
