A-choo! Bless You!

If you’ve never been owned by a cat (and they do own you; it’s not the other way around) you probably won’t get this and might as well stop reading right here.

I’ve had cats in my life for over 30 years. They’ve come and gone and moved on; but I’ve always, always got one in my life. It started way back with Luigi (she was a beautiful long-haired girl – yes, girl). In keeping with the ethnic names Pedro came into my life, then Cisco, Fritz, Max (we had a German theme going for awhile); enter Spider, Babette, Cheetah (they were gorgeous long-haired white cats, brother and sister; Babette had blue eyes ~ Cheetah had one blue eye and one green), Pepper, Ames and A-choo. I may have missed someone in there ~ there have been so many. And in fairness to the other loves in my life – my dogs – I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Ginger, Jack, Dolly (by marriage) and Simba. My dogs are the reason I’ve stayed reasonably in shape with all that hiking.

But the dogs will be a story for another day. Today I’m thinking about my cats. The cats I have known have run the gambit from cuddly to aloof; funny to just plain odd. I’ve known some that are very smart and some that are about half a bubble off. And I’ve always had them in pairs ~ to keep each other company. Only once in my life did I have a solo cat, Pepper, and that was only for a short time before Ames came along.

Until now that is. When our beloved Ames lost his battle with cancer 8 months ago, A-choo, our 12 year old long-haired bundle of fur became an only cat. (Her name btw came from the fact that when we first met her at the Denver Dumb Friends League and subsequently adopted her – she sneezed a lot.) After time for grieving Ames' passing, we began to think about adopting a little buddy for A-choo. We were traveling a lot and she was being left at home alone (Simba stays with “Grandpa and Grandma”). And although “Grandpa” came by every day to visit with her, we were feeling bad that she was, for the most part, alone.

Once we were home for more than 5 minutes, I noticed A-choo was “talking” to me a lot. I started listening to her. And I began to hear her saying she was kind of liking this being the only cat in the house thing. She was feelin’ the love. She was, at long last, the Princess she was destined to be. And I noticed something else. She’s really funny. She has a great personality – charming and cuddly (on her terms, of course) and holy moly, what a talker! She chirps and squeaks and purrs incessantly. She follows me around all day and sits next to my desk when I'm working. When we come home she runs to the door (as only a dog would do) and launches into her monologue recounting everything that happened while we were gone. No doubt, tattling on Simba for the most part.

So we have decided to let her have her moment in the sun ~ however long that moment may last. She will remain an only cat in all her glory for the rest of her days ~ or until she tells me she’s ready for a buddy. Until then, I am her BFF. And I’m feelin’ the love, too.