Our cat, Felix, traveled up north with us for the first time, to visit my parents and their cat, Katie.

I was worried Felix might not like the long drive. My parents' home, while not enormous, has a basement and an upstairs, all connected by a spiral staircase, and I worried he would become distressed in this new place. There were a lot of new things he could mess with, and I worried he would knock over knickknacks or dig in the plants or hide. So I was anxious from the moment I piled Felix into his carrier.

It turns out, I was worried about all the wrong things.

Felix did not mind the drive at all. He fell asleep in his carrier and was a model passenger. When we arrived at my parents' house, I carried him in. I could have sworn that Katie was watching as we loaded everything into the house. But apparently not.

Felix immediately began to explore. This was a big house, filled with interesting things, and Felix hit the ground running, so I don't know the precise order of events. But somehow, Felix ended up in the sunporch that doubles as my mother's sewing room. He was investigating the sunroom when Katie, belatedly, discovered there was another cat in the house.

She screamed.

You are probably imagining that she meowed very loudly or let out a yowl, but that would not be accurate. Katie screamed as if her little kitty throat was being cut and she was dying -- right that moment.

Everyone came running. Katie was puffed up to approximately twice her normal size, and she was staring, riveted, at Felix. Felix looked surprised, but not nearly dangerous enough to have provoked a scream like that.

"They will need some time!" my mother explained. We all assumed the worst was over. Then, several minutes later, Katie returned to the sunporch, and Felix was hiding just around the corner, so she didn't discover him until she was inches from his face. There was another scream, and this time, she peed on the floor.

My father picked up Katie. My mother mopped the floor. I shooed Felix out of the sunporch. An hour passed, and Katie had almost convinced herself that Felix was gone for good. That's when he popped up from the basement, his face festooned with cobwebs.

There was a third bloodcurdling scream.

We decided they needed a time-out. There was no door to the upstairs, and so we brought up Katie's litter box from the basement and confined her to the bedroom and sunporch.

Things were quiet that night. I had gone up to bed. Suddenly, there was another scream.

"Could you come and get your cat?!" my father hollered.

"Where is he?"

I ran downstairs and there was Felix, sitting in the darkened sunporch. There was a glass window in the door to my parents' bedroom, and he had been peering into the window from the dark. Katie spotted the Night Stalker and, justifiably, freaked out.

"Now you are just being mean!" I told Felix as I took him to bed. I thought he looked pleased with himself.

For the remaining two days, while Katie spent most of her time fuming in my parents' bedroom, Felix played with Mom and Dad. He was given special treats. He caught a mouse and murdered it in the bathtub. He played with all of Katie's toys. And every time Katie caught sight of Felix, she screamed.

All in all, it was a wonderful vacation -- for Felix.

Till next time,

Carrie

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I'd never been to a U.S. citizenship ceremony before. I'd never even thought about it much. I knew the process took a long time but, beyond that, I knew nothing about it, until I was invited to one.

My dear friend, Betty, was coming in from out of town to attend the citizenship ceremony of her son-in-law, Raul. Raul is a quiet and soft-spoken man who works in corporate catering. He has been waiting to become an American citizen for many years and finally, last Thursday, he became one.

I wasn't expecting much, but I was looking forward to seeing Betty. She had recently turned 80, and I hadn't seen her in ages. It took a long time to get all the families of all the soon-to-be new citizens seated, so we had a lot of time to catch up. Then the ceremony started.

The 136 new citizens sat in the rows up front, and their friends and family sat in rows of seats behind them. The huge former railroad station was nearly filled before the ceremony started.

A judge stood behind the podium and, after a few administrative details were dealt with, introduced the 76 countries where the citizens came from and encouraged them to wave their American flags when she read their country.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," she added. "This is America, after all."

It was an amazing spectacle as, one by one, the new citizens waved their flags as their countries were named, and the families sitting behind them cheered. Some countries were a lot noisier than you might expect. I think the New Zealanders were some of the loudest, and there were not that many of them.

People laughed and applauded and waved flags, and we all sang the national anthem together. Then the judge made a few comments. She started by quoting Ronald Reagan.

"We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people -- our strength -- from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so, we continuously renew and enrich our nation."

The judge congratulated them on completing the long and arduous process that had brought them to this day, and talked about their responsibilities and rights as new citizens. She told them she knew most of them had to get back to work and get on with their lives, but she encouraged them to take time, at some point in the day, to celebrate.

"You will have a birthday every year and celebrate the holidays every season. But you will only have one day in your life when you become an American citizen."

Then they played "America the Beautiful," and there were quite a few people crying, including Betty.

I'm not sure what I expected. But if you ever want to have a renewed appreciation for the U.S., I recommend you go to watch 136 immigrants getting their citizenship.

The sun was shining outside as all the families and friends gathered with the new citizens, still holding their flags. And I realized I had no idea what it was like for my family when they were new citizens. I didn't know if there was a ceremony or if they were given a small flag. I didn't know if they took a test, as these folks had, or sang the national anthem. I knew nothing about it. And I was sorry about that.

"What a wonderful ceremony!" I said to Betty.

"I didn't know it would be so nice," Betty agreed.

Then we all went out to lunch, and we celebrated.

Happy 4th of July,

Carrie

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Last night, my husband, Peter, and I went to see the play "Come From Away." I read about it last year, waited for the day tickets were available, and bought the very best cheap seats I could buy.

I love going to the theater more than almost anything, so you might be surprised to learn my husband is not much of a theatergoer. I've learned, over the years, if I ask him months in advance, he imagines the date will never come and agrees to go with me -- and that's what he did when I asked him last December about this show. The show came to town last night. Peter is a good sport.

The cheap seats were very close to the front, but way to the side, so I could see around the edges of the stage -- which I don't mind a bit. I like seeing the actors just as they make their entrance. I like the reminder that there is a world right behind the curtains.

The play is the story of how, on 9/11, 7,000 airline passengers were diverted to an island off the coast of Newfoundland. Years earlier, before planes could fly all the way across the Atlantic, they used to stop and refuel in Gander, Newfoundland. The longer range of the jets made the oversized airport on the small island obsolete, and there had been talk of demolishing it. But it was still there on Sept. 11, 2001, so it became the most logical place to reroute thousands of passengers when no one knew how long it would be before it was safe to fly again.

And the people of Gander -- about 2,000 of them -- stepped up to host all these accidental visitors.

They cooked and provided new clothes. They invited these strangers into their houses and bought them drinks. They organized a barbecue, and even urged their guests to become honorary Newfoundlanders. These stranded flyers from all over the world never forgot the compassion of this small town during this terrible, difficult time. Ten years later, many of them returned to visit their adopted family in Gander. Scholarships were set up. Lifetime friendships were made.

I think we need more stories like this. Fred Rogers said, when talking to children about disasters, "Look for the helpers." Gander and the surrounding communities became helpers to these strangers -- who were not always gracious or grateful or even aware of how much help they needed or how profoundly they had upset the quiet life of this tiny town.

At the end of the show, the audience stood up in unison. Standing ovations are a peculiar thing. Some people will stand for everything. Most people will be embarrassed into joining them. Rarely does everyone just get on their feet all together, and yet that was what happened last night.

There were a lot of people in the theater, so perhaps it is presumptuous for me to say, but I have to believe we were all, in some way, thinking how much we need that spirit of coming together and helping one another and supporting each other even if -- especially if -- the folks we are supporting are strangers to us.

I thought about what a great idea it was to write a play about a town that was helpful. It was such a simple idea, yet so absolutely right.

"Aren't you glad we went?" I asked Peter on the way out. He said he was. He said it might be the best play he had ever seen, which -- coming from Peter -- meant a lot.

Till next time,

Carrie

Photos and other things can be found on Facebook at CarrieClassonAuthor.

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