Thursday, January 17, 2013

How I Became a Cat Person

After Tuesday night's anniversary post, I figured it was worth taking a moment to share Lady Bug adoption story too.

I've had Lady for almost 3.5 years.  Like I shared on her birthday last year, and it's true more today than it was then!, those years have been pretty full.  We've lived in five different apartments, in three cities.  We've traveled back and forth across the country a couple of times.  We adopted a second cat.  We've been through some pretty crappy relationships - both romantic and platonic - and had multiple jobs.

I adopted Lady after a very bad break up.

Or let me rephrase that.  I adopted Lady after I thought a really bad relationship was ending.  It dragged on for much longer than I care to admit after that.  But the first end to that relationship was definitely the catalyst to adopting her in the first place.

My apartment seemed so empty and I was looking for something to love - something that wouldn't cheat on me, that would be an asshole, that wouldn't tell me that every single things I did was wrong.  I was much more of a dog person - truthfully, I still am - but my apartment didn't technically allow any pets and you can't exactly get away with a dog in a complex like that.  Plus I was working about 80 hours a week and going to school full time.  Doesn't leave much room for a dog.

One morning not long after the breakup, my friend Megan and I decided to go to the Humane Society to see if maybe they had a cat for me.  I had in my brain that I was looking for a male cat, at least a year old, preferably all grey.  People kept telling me I would like cats, to at least give it a try.

I wasn't all that convinced at first but I came home with a kitten - not at all what I expect.  She was a female, four months old, that was grey and pink-ish.  In Tuesday's post I talked about how I chose Charlie.  In this instance, Lady Bug chose me.

We played with a lot of cats that day.  Kittens that swarmed us, purring and crying, that were quite adorable.  An older cat that really just needed someone to love her.  Cute little boy cats that tried desperately to fill the void in my heart that I was feeling.

None of them were my cat.

Just as we were leaving empty handed, we decided to stop in the kitten room one last time to absorb the cuteness.  When we first got there, a little kitten - at the time named Angel - had been sleeping in the corner, completely oblivious to the fact that there was a lady there who might want to play with her.

The second foray into the kitten room, she shoved her way through the slithering mass of kittens, climbed right onto my lap, stretched up as high as she could, and kissed me right on the nose.

I was hers.  Instantly.  Without a moment of hesitation - not at all realizing that my little cat was very, very gassy (trust me, it was gross) - I renamed her Lady - she was a prissy little thing and there's isn't an angelic bone in her body - gave her the middle name of Bug - it just suited her - and let her into my heart.

Within a week, she had charmed the football player next door, my best friend, and my family (even if she did run through a plate of chicken parmigiana at Thanksgiving that year).  That little thing was so incredibly sick when I brought her home.  But with a little bit of love, and a little bit of people food which she still steals to this day (what cat likes pizza, tacos, and spaghetti?!), she has grown into a rather-large, very-loving, kind-of-lazy cat.

So there is is.  I was never a cat person until I fell in love with Lady Bug.  It doesn't hurt that she's not a normal cat.  She has a lot of personality and she's way too smart.  She's leash trained (remember the PetSmart story from Tuesday?).  And as crazy as it sounds, she has impeccable sense when it comes to people's character.  I trust her judgement... except for when it comes to my sister.  My vet-school sister.  The only person on the planet Lady hates.

Now that I've aired all of my "I'm a Crazy Cat Lady" glory on the blog, we can get back to my (ir)regular posting.  I'm in the middle of a few different books right now that hopefully I'll finish over the weekend.  Keep an eye out for a review in the next couple of days.

Rikki

2 comments:

  1. You really do have the best cats in the world. I was never a cat person until I met Lady Bug and Charlie. Seriously. They changed my opinion. :)

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    Replies
    1. Aw! Thanks Lauren. The girls and I miss you dreadfully. We really need to make plans for you and Taylor to come visit this spring.

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