Friday night and we're sat in front of the TV. From my vantage point at the end of the sofa I can see Giles in the hallway, sitting in one of his familiar places: just by the door.
Currently he has a number of favourite places, not least of which is on a mat by the radiator: but he keeps returning to the door.
Just to see what will happen I call him and he comes, stretching slowly and padding towards me with a tiny miow. I pick him up, marvelling again at how heavy he is. I put him on my lap. Today he is in a relaxed mood and seems happy to take the attention, beginning to purr as I stroke him. Herself gets a piece of the action too as he briefly takes a stroll over to her side of the sofa and puts his face into hers.
Then he returns and flops down into my arms, lying on his back with big catty eyes staring adoringly into my face. It is possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen.
Myself and Herself have The Conversation again, the one that always begins "remember when..."
And we do - we remember when he first invited himself into the house just over 12 months ago and would scarper if you came within a few feet of him. We remember how sad and bedraggled he looked, we remeber that neither of us had ever heard him purr at that point.
We remember how he spent the first few weeks just hiding under the sofa, only coming out to eat, the first time we caught him sitting on the bed and the moment when he finally started to decide we were ok.
Niether of us can quite believe that a little bit of patience and kindness have changed the cat that once sank his claws deep into Herself's arm and tried to scramble out of a high window to escape us into creature before us. OK so yes, he still tries to pounce on our toes sometimes, but now its just in play and although he will always be an outdoors cat he always comes when you call him.
Maybe one day we will get over the change, maybe we will be able to look at him without that constant surprise and endless "do you remember when..." conversation, but I hope that day doesn't come too soon.
Giles, meanwhile, tired of all this soppiness, rolls over and jumps off, proceeds to the kitchen where he demolishes the contents of his bowl and then demolishes the litter tray.
Somethings never change
9 comments:
I remember fondly our first cat. Way back in the 90s when we were wed, we got a freebie named Twinkie. She loved to crouch at the end of my bed and wait for me to toss her the wadded up piece of paper she'd brought and sat on my pillow. So cute. She died before our first anniversary. And now, we have Meepo, a Father's Day gift. He is standoffish most days, but he too will occasionally climb onto my lap and give me those eyes . . .
And, The Cure?! I have several friends who are telling me I missed something when I missed Disintegration. Looking to remedy that soon . . .
This is a good metaphor for the journey we take to find peace with ourselves. It just takes some love and patience.
Our son of thirty-one years finally sold his house and is moving out of our guest room where he and his monstrously furry cat "Charlie" have been living for a year. We'll miss them both, especially Charley who purred like a geiger counter whenever our son came home from work.
Cats are willing to admit when they're on to a good thing. It just takes a while for them to show it.
Well he certainly fell on his furry feet! We often have the 'remember when...' conversation about our two, who hated one another at first but co-exist peaceably these days.
tsdaddy - cats are great though. And if you want to listen to The Cure i recommend Boys Don't Cry and Lullaby particularly
Michael - yes indeed
Stephen - so are you gonna miss the son or the cat more? lol
English - yes, he certainly landed on his feet
Argent - we were very worried about that issue as well, but 99% of the time its ok now
I love reading about Giles progression from wild and suspicious (no doubt heartbroken) to a cat who comes when called and moves around on the sofa to engage lovingly with his people. I love the conversation you two have about him and suspect the marvel of his transformation might not ever seem blase'....nor should it! He is one of those miracles in life that just happened to be your miracle in your lives. (Remember that he sees you as a miracle in his life, too.)
As for the charming video: new to me. Never heard the song or the group and I loved this. I think it was probably a very low-budget shoot, and didn't they do a great job? So cute, their use of real kittens (awwwwww) and puppets. Lots of fun!
Ah sure they're cute & all, but then they jump up on the counter & eat your lunch! (Yes, this happened 25 years ago, but I'm still traumatized - ha!).
Have to watch the video when I get home from work.
lydia - it's hard to believe he's the same cat
Bug - my last cat, Charlie, did that as well - stole a sausage from my plate. Never saw him move so fast :)
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