CATS | PET OWNERSHIP | ANECDOTES
Rediscovering my Inner Cat Mom
One cat at a time
I like cats.
Growing up, I collected every manner of cat book, statue, plush animal — basically anything I could find that had a cat on it. I even brought my collection of cat stuff to my school’s hobby show in the third grade. I didn’t win anything for my efforts — not even an honorable mention. Some girl who brought her grandfather’s coin collection won first place. That girl cheated. After all, those weren’t her coins. Still, I loved my cat stuff.
We adopted an actual cat when I was in the fourth grade. My brother rescued him from a tree in our neighborhood. We named him Dusty, and he lived to be thirteen years old. I was a senior in college when he died. I cried when my parents gave me the news.
A cat for Christmas
Losing Dusty marked the start of the longest period in my adult life that I didn’t keep a cat. I was busy feeling my way through adulthood and failing at one job after another, so adopting a cat hadn’t occurred to me. In fact, for many years, I didn’t think about cats at all. That was strange because I loved them so much growing up.
One cold and snowy Christmas Day, my family gathered at my parent’s house for the holidays. A…
