Cat Lady

I'm a cat lady from way back. I love cats. They are quiet, clean, cuddly, fun, independent, good company, and undemanding. Unlike dogs, who are loud, dirty, smelly, very dependent and demanding. I am NOT a dog person. I grew up with my beloved Scampy, a spunky gray and white kitty, all gray with a white mustache and white tuxedo front. Scampy was my buddy, the one I cried to when the chips were down, cuddled with when some boy ignored me, or when a supposed "friend" left me out of the group...you know how girls can be. Scampy died when I was in college, away from home. I didn't get another kitty until I had my own apartment. That was Chatta. Don't ask about the name, it is a derivative of a spanish word for some milk drink I liked when I went to Spain for the first time. Chatta was an all white, long haired kitty I got as a tiny kitten from a friend in college. Chatta had bright green eyes. She came with me to Chicago, drove all the way from Michigan, wrapped around my neck. We were single city girls together! Chatta had alot of health problems, probably due to her long hair and my erratic work/travel/social life. She had two surgeries for kidney stones and various other trips to the vet for whatever. I lost Chatta early, she was maybe five or six years old. It broke my heart. But soon after Chatta died, I met Lou. The rest, as you know by now, is history. The interesting thing is, Lou was terribly allergic to cats. So, no more kitties for me. There were times we contemplated it, thinking we could maybe just have Lou take allergy shots, but that didn't really seem fair. So, we had the usual array of apartment pets for the kids, you know, hamsters, goldfish, lizards, snakes and the like. Nothing remotely like a kitty. Until now. Now we have Misa and Nico. We adopted two kitties from a shelter recently. Damon is his mother's son, he likes cats and has wanted a kitten for quite some time. So, we indulged ourselves with two. They are adorable. Everything kitties should be. Cuddly, playful, sweet, and oh so cute. They sleep with me. Curled up next to me, purring in my ear. In the morning, they play with each other and remind me they are hungry. It is sooo much better then waking up to an empty room. It is sooo much better then sleeping in an empty bed. It is sooooo much better then an empty apartment. They are filling those empty spaces, some of them. Not all of them, of course. But they are life, and joy. Something we desperately need around here. I'm a cat lady again. Cuddling with my kitties. It'll have to do.