Throw Back Thursday

Since Leo just had his birthday, I thought I'd share something from the first week of blogging about him. Specifically, about why I got him!

This is from April 19, 2011
It was called:

So Why Leo?

Surely there have to be many gray kitties much closer to home, no? Yes, there probably are. But I wasn’t looking for a kitty, remember, gray or otherwise. Star, supposedly, is happy being an only kitty. Although I did wonder if the attacks she’d been leveling on weren’t because she was lonely. My mother had a cat that attacked her ankles in sneak blitz attacks when he did not have a furry friend. She lost many cats, we assumed runaways, until it was discovered that foxes had moved in closer due to new housing in the area.
You see, when I was a kid, we had woods on three sides of us and a field across the street. Now there are houses where the fields were and a few more in the woods. Anyway, between foxes and chicken hawks, she had a problem. Her current kitty, Sir Moose-a-lot Roadkill Goodyear Thunderbottom, is not allowed out at night and that seems to have solved the issue. But I digress.

Star’s attacks on me might have been a cry for furry friendship, or it might have just been her cranky personality getting crankier as she gets older. But it made me think that a new kitty might be the solution. I still have that hope. The attacks on me have stopped anyway. And Leo’s too fast for her to lay a paw on really. I have high hopes that they will be cuddling someday, though I concede that it might take a little more time.

So you know that I fell in love with that furry gray face when Chrystal first showed the little feral kittens she was catching. The fact that he was gray was only one factor. A huge one, but coupled with another huge one. And that huge one was his name. Someone asked, I think on Chrystal’s blog, if I was going to keep his name. I have to! His name told me that he was mine.

My gramma, the one who got my first gray kitten, Misty, was the sweetest, most wonderful woman on earth. She and I were very close. Though we don’t believe in astrology, we both have the same astrological sign. Leo. A cat. Which we thought was perfect since we were cat people. I stayed with her a lot and we played cards a lot. With a deck of cards with a Leo on them that we joked only Leo’s could play with! We even made a show of changing decks when my grampa would join us for a hand or two.

I loved that woman more than anything, and I lost her about a year and a half ago. It left a huge hole in my life that I still struggle with. And then one day, a gray cat that looks like my gramma’s cat, and looks like my cat, shows up with THAT name.. Well, I’m not superstitious, but I have to think maybe there’s something to it. Did she find him for me? I don’t know. It would be nice to think so wouldn’t it?

So Why Leo? Because he’s got a name that reminds me of a special bond with my special gramma. Because he looks like her kitty. Because he looks like my kitty. Because he was scared when he showed up. Because I understand scared. Because everything added up to him being the perfect cat for me.

Thought you might want to see Moose

aka Sir Moose-a-lot Roadkill Goodyear Thunderbottom

My mother's cat. He's sporting a shirt sized for 18 month olds.

Can't go out at night, Moosey, predators!

And my sweet Leo!

Mom, I need more toys!