Tuesday, October 18, 2005

 

catwalk

Today's the day. My youngest cat just learned to use the cat flap. Like Alice she goes through the mirror, leaving the kitchen and landing on the terrace-wonderland. She's 4-months-old and has lived in my flat for three weeks now, sharing space attention and food with my older cats. The male has accepted her but the female simply left the house and at the moment she lives in the terrace, sleeping in a cardboard box like a homeless and refusing food if I don’t stay next to her. She's always been a bit weird, I took her home from the city cat orphanage in late 2003, struck by her ginger fur and her quiet manners. She was already 6 years old or so, and was said to be "quite peculiar".. actually she immediately showed a funny personality that made us all call her Gollum.. she still comes in search for cuddles AND looks behind her back in fear for a serial killer or something.
The male is a siamese-like 1 and a half years old hurricane. He can open doors (and working on unlocking), has a smart look in his clear blue eyes and the awful habit to steal everything eatable in the house, especially cakes or bread. In fact I'm afraid he's looking forward to have diabetes or become a Sumo fighter.
All of my cats came in different ways and different moments, but they have one thing in common: they always came when I needed comfort and felt like taking care of someone when there was no one willing to be taken care of.
The only exception was my first cat. He was a pink-blonde male named after the white cat in Disney’s Italian version of Alice in wonderland and I adopted him while I was still living with P. He was huge yet not fat, and went totally crazy for chestnuts and pizza. We used to take a short nap together on the couch, laying on one side, his furry legs tied around my neck like a baby, until P. called me for coffee and cookies. He was so much more than a cat, he kind of answered when we called, loved the people I love and flirted with the people I would have liked to flirt with. He sat on my lap like a kid when I had tea with friends, made everyone laugh with his human-like manners and left me on an awfully sunny day, poisoned by a neighbour.
When I found out I cried sitting on the floor. Everyone who’s lost a pet friend knows how it feels. After him I had some other 5 cats or so, and I enjoyed having them all, but no one has ever reached my heart the way he did. No one has ever shown the need for my attention the way he did, no one has ever really been MINE.
If there’s a lesson in life (and I’m sure there is) maybe this is part of it.
Feeling that someone needs us and our affection seems to make the difference. Knowing to be needed make us feel we’re worth.
This is the first step. But this shouldn’t be the measure to give OUR love in return.
Accepting the others’ independence, learning to love without engulfing the other or being absorbed by him. Learning that real life is a non-stop improvement only if we want it to be, and something better is always waiting for us. IF we don’t stop walking. Maybe what we need it’s just one more step away.
Besides, while the first pet is unforgettable, absolutely unique and irreplaceable, with men is totally different…

Comments:
It took about a day for my cat to learn how to use the cat flap too. I love cats! I see in your picture profile that there is a cat in the artwork.

~Deb
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?