Birthday Memories and Kitten Blues



I'm about to celebrate a birthday. Do you remember when you were little and you just couldn't wait to have a birthday? As I continue to get older, I still LOVE my birthday. I love hearing my Momma tell me the story of playing gin rummy with Daddy in the hospital for millions of hours.

Dad tells the story of my name and what the nurse in Kalamazoo said, "Nelle. That's a good name for a mule." Ha! I even learned my conception story (blush) a few years ago which is pretty funny. It had to do with my kitty cat Rishboo Rufus Farquar, II. I've never spelled our cat's name before. He had a good one, nick named Boo Rufus. Well, Boo went missing on Glenwood Hill. Weeks went by, no Boo. My poor parents were beside themselves with sadness and had given him up for dead. Low and behold he came home, a little skinny, two weeks later. Needless to say, there was joy at Toad Hall and nine months later I was was born. 

Sadly, Momma's current beloved kitty Louis is knocking at death's door. He's been sick with cancer for the last few months. This kitten showed up on Christmas day 1999, a black Manx, without a tail, as a Christmas miracle. I was long gone but Mom and Mac were smitten. They headed to DC for the millennium party on the Mall with me and Mary T. and took Louis to the cat rescue. If no one picked him up before they got back, he would have a home with them. He's been a precious love. I call him Louscious.

My favorite cat lover of all time, Summer is a Verb, lost her beloved Templeton a few months ago. I wrote her a condolence email and she wrote me back with the most beautiful image. Alice said someone told her that when we die, and follow the light at the end of the tunnel into to heaven, our pets come running towards us first! Isn't that the most beautiful image? 

Louis, we love you. Thank you for keeping Momma company all these years. You will be missed sweet feline brother. Momma, thanks for giving birth to me 39 years ago. Daddy, you too. Thanks for the stories and the hilarious oversharing of Boo Rufus' homecoming. I love you both more than you'll ever know.