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I will never know what it’s like to be famous, but I will know what it’s like to go outside with a little black-and-white tuxedo cat in a pram, upon whose shoulders sits a little snuggly blue cape.

One day a lady came up to me, and she simply could not take her eyes off Ruby. Ruby had that effect. He possessed a rare, magnetic quality—a pure vibration of peace. She politely asked if she could take a photograph of him, a request that happened often on our walks. And then, she did what so many others did: she reached back into her heart and recited what having once owned a cat meant to her. This was the profound effect that being with Ruby had.

I believe ordinary people would reveal themselves and lower their inhibitions because they automatically assumed, as Ruby proudly stood so well-behaved in his pram, that purbouting with him was a profound, humility-driven mission of love. They sensed intuitively that we were tapped into something sacred.

The lady in the shop talked to me for at least ten minutes, completely anchored in the moment. She spoke about how many years ago she had lived in a house with her young son, and in the house they regrettably had a rat infestation. On evenings, in the comfort of their home whilst settling down, suddenly a rat would appear. It was disconcerting, confusing, and apprehensive. In her worry, she borrowed her mother’s cat, Herbert, and brought him home.

She spoke with great delight about how Herbert would surreptitiously go through each room like a lion on the Serengeti, and how her young son walked beside Herbert as if he was his prize possession, his prize fighter. She told me in great detail about how much she loved Herbert. You could positively feel the energy and fascination radiating from this lady—a beautiful, warm vibration in the space between us.

I remember thinking, as my partner walked around the shop, I’m being rude not going around like I normally do. But this lady was so enamored by Ruby, who all the while stood there patiently in his pram, listening and just taking it in. He wasn’t doing anything spectacular; he was just being, a tiny, saintly presence absorbing her words without judgment.

Now, a month or so later, I feel that people like this lady can relate to stories like ours. Carolyn and I are essentially busy, relatively private people who gain a large degree of satisfaction from doing simple things, like finding things in charity shops that are unusual. But I can relate to everything this lady said, and I am incredibly thankful. I found it all such an interesting, profoundly touching thing that warms me internally—the fact that being with Ruby allowed a seeming non-stop outpouring of affection, support, and warmth from total strangers.

Me and Carolyn agree. People who love animals, and particularly cats, we appreciate more. We share a deeper, more sensitive attunement to the heartbeat of the world.

If you google the word legacy, the literal dictionary definition usually speaks of “property or money left to someone in a will,” or “something handed down from an ancestor or predecessor.” That is a definition born of the ego.

But when you look deeper, you quickly find the more human, spiritual definition: a legacy is the footprint you leave on the world, the impact you have on others, and the way you are remembered by the stories left behind.

Ruby never sought fame or a grand inheritance, yet by simply wearing his blue cape and sitting patiently in his pram, he became a mirror for the divine. His legacy was the permission he gave to strangers to be completely human, lowering their social armor to let their love pour out. He left every stranger he met a little bit softer and more open than he found them. That is the only legacy that truly matters.

Here is a little combo of images and text with estracts from “Brave For The Other“. Available on Gumroad priced at £4.49

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“One day, while weeping in the car after Ruby had passed, I told Carolyn, ‘I feel so utterly ridiculous. How could I call it Brave For The Other? I have let you down.’ She stated categorically that I hadn’t. We realized we were living out the book’s message: one small step, one kind thing, being brave for the other, running parallel with true bravery.”

A Call to Action

“Never, ever forget the absolute luxury of touch. The Buddhists say we think we have time, but our lives live on the precipice of fate. We sincerely hope you take one small step and do one kind thing today. Be brave. As you get older, you realize what people ‘say’ is like shouting into a void, but it’s what people take the time to do that matters. I’m so incredibly proud of what we did.

There’s another thing. I dedicate this to my beautiful partner, Carolyn Jane Broadbent, who, wracked with sorrow on a bench in Stockton Heath, made sure I spent six weeks walking with two icons around the roads of Warrington.”

The 189 miles we covered scratched boldly at the door of eccentricity. When onlookers saw Ruby—a beautiful, inquisitive, and elderly tuxedo cat—standing proudly at the helm of his pram, his sturdy little shoulders adorned in a blue blanket patterned with clouds, I believe they instantly made an assessment: this boy is deeply, undeniably loved.

He brought pure joy to every village we passed. It felt as though people came from the four corners of the earth just to tell us how beautiful he was and how much we had brightened their day.

The bittersweet irony of it all was tinged with a quiet sadness. This fabulous creature had spent his life as a sheltered house cat, yet here at the very precipice of his existence, when his precious time was running out, strangers were reaffirming what we already so deeply knew: it was an absolute blessing to have him. Thank you for stopping by and sharing in this memory.

If you have a cat that has received a similar devastating prognosis and you are walking through the dark corridors of grief yourself, please know this: three weeks after his passing, this journey is the only thing that makes sense to me. Grief happens, and grief is simply the receipt we pay for love. Ruby was indisputably loved. In truth, I wept more over his passing than I did over the loss of my own mother. Whether I should be embarrassed to confess that, or proud to admit it, is entirely up to you, the listener, to decide.

There is one more thing I must say. Someone was running parallel with me on every single step of this 90-day odyssey. It was the lady who is no stranger to genius ideas. As we sat entirely broken-hearted on a bench in Stockton Heath, she designated that light would break through our darkness. She promptly ordered the pram and that fateful blue cloud blanket that shielded Ruby’s shoulders on every single outing. Wrapped up with a hot water bottle, completely intrigued by the world, he would sit at the helm. I am immensely proud of Carolyn and myself for the fierce tenacity we employed to make that happen for him.

On the devastating day Ruby passed, I instinctively hid the pram before Carolyn got home, fearing it would utterly break her to see it empty. But later that afternoon, on a sudden impulse, I brought it back out of the “Zen Den” we had created for our cats. We placed little Moon inside and took her out. Unlike Ruby, she cried all the way to the park. I filmed that first bittersweet journey. On the way back, she grew quiet. Thwarted by raw emotion, I couldn’t bear to look at the video that day. When I finally watched it the next morning, I was amazed. She was so vibrant, so utterly intrigued. That night, after returning home, she shed all her usual inhibitions and mental torment. She was totally angelic, sleeping peacefully on our bed. We have never seen her so remarkably playful, and we were completely enamored by her transformation.

I believe the profound lesson here is that house cats, when allowed to safely experience the great outdoors in a pram, are liberated from the constraints of four walls. It is enormously invigorating for their spirits. Because of this, we intend to get two prams and embark on a grand 1,000-mile journey with our lovely cats, Millie and Moon, seeking sponsorship from various partners along the way. It is through sharing these extraordinary stories that faith is born in the absolute beauty of our pets. We believe we should always remain hyper-aware of the luxury of touch—and how, when we reach for them or they reach out a paw to us (just as Ruby always did), that connection alone is a reason for boundless gratitude.