The Cat Lady

 So there are these cats that live with us. I've been thinking lately that God sent them to us in July because he knew what was gonna happen in August and that I would need their purring. Cats have always been there for me when nobody else was and God knows that. They listen to me, and even if I can't talk they still listen. And while they listen, they purr. Purring is scientifically proven to lower blood pressure you know... 

 My cats have sat with me and purred while I cried buckets of tears over the years. They've purred with me when I was so hurt about something I couldn't cry. They've purred with me while I went on hundreds of escapades with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. They've filled my lap and purred with me while I cried as one of the kittens lay dying. Kitty purred to me when Beeba died even though she was depressed about it herself. Apparently the dog she always loudly declared she hated in life was someone worthy of missing once she was gone. The cats even purred while sitting on my shoulders while I waded through the sea of cats on the ground on my way out to the barn to feed them. 

 They didn't particularly purr when I gave them wheelbarrow rides or when I dressed up the post in the yard up like an old lady and stuck one of them inside for the head, but they purred when I took them down. Actually, Twinky probably did purr while he got his wheelbarrow ride. He loved them. He was weird though, so he doesn't count.

 They purred and talked loudly when they'd climb the huge old stump in the yard and spy on me while I was doing my school. They'd sit there yelling at me to hurry up so I could come visit them. A couple of them, I can't remember who it was for sure, had the bright idea a few times to scale the tree that was trying to grow next to the foundation of the house and wander across the roof and come talk loudly through the window to me. This did not however cause purring from my mother when she caught me with two cats on my desk while I diagramed sentences.

 There have been lots of cats across the years. Salty, the deaf one, is the first I remember. Before him, before I was even two there was Roofy, but I don't remember him. I just have pictures of me with him in the laundry basket. He looked thrilled by the experience. Then, after Salty got killed there were Si and Mese the Siamese twins. Except they weren't twins... Not identical anyway. Si had happier eyes than Mese did. And there was Poky and Silverbells and Silvertiger. Marmy, Iddy, Callie and Gracie. Twinky, Squeaky, Misty, Suesky, Growly, Little Man, and Moglie. And there were so many babies I didn't even get a chance to name them all. After they all died or got abandoned there was nobody for a couple years until Kitty showed up on Halloween. Now there's Tigger and Tweetie.

 For some odd reason people could never tell my cats apart. Just because you have 4 silver tabbies, 4 orange tabbies, 2 black cats and 2 calicoes running around doesn't mean they look alike! What is with people? The only thing they had in common was their purring and their great, enormous love for me. It's the same now when there are 2 orange tabbies again. But you see, Tigger is louder and blabs all the time, Tweetie never speaks. Tweetie has fur that's soft like a rabbit and Tigger has just regular old cat fur. Tweetie has white legs and feet and Tigger has orange feet. Tweetie has greenish eyes and Tigger has yellow. They don't look THAT much alike!

 The requirement for a cat is a demented disposition for entertainment value, purrs for the stress relieving properties, klutziness for the necessity of running into random walls, fear of dogs to help the funny bone when you see them with their fur so fat that even their facial hair stands on end, and the uncanny ability to know when you need them to just come sit by you and purr.

 For some odd reason some of my favorite quotes also involve cats:

 A black cat crossing your path signifies the animal is going somewhere. -Groucho Marx

 Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get 8 cats pull a sled thorough snow. -Jeff Valdez

 There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. -Albert Schweitzer

 A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not. -Ernest Hemingway

 The problem with cats is they get the exact same look whether they see a moth or an axe murderer. -Paula Poundstone

 

And of course there's the magnets on my fridge:

A house is not a home until it has a cat (or two or three...)

One can never have too many cats!

It Came

It Purred

It Conquered!

 Now excuse me while I go find my cats and listen to them purr for a year or two. And remember; A cat is God's sense of humor with fur on.