UNEXPECTED LOVE

After a long plane trip home, I opened our front door, called out to our kitty (officially named Tangier, but called Buzzer Baby for her tendency to jump on our bed early in the morning and meow us awake). We returned from our week and half long trip to Italy, our longest extended period away from home since the death of our oldest cat last November. Buzzer Baby, her 16-year old daughter, still resides with us. She was taken care of by a neighbor, who came to feed and sat with her twice a day while we were gone. In response to my call to Buzzer Baby, I heard a tentative "Mew Mew." As Buzzer Baby rounded the corner to the front hallway, she stopped, looked at me, then as she ran towards me, she burst into a full-throated meow. I let Buzzer Baby come to me before I reached out to her. She looked up at me and started to purr while I stroked her sides. Cats are often considered stand-offish, but you know cat love after you've been away.

Since our return, she has woken me up at 4 AM each morning by butting her head against me. I ignore her and go back to sleep, but she is there when I get up and follows me into the bathroom, meowing all the way. While I do my morning stretches, she lies down alongside my head, and nestles up against my hair. Once I'm dressed, we walk downstairs together. She is quiet for a few minutes while she eats breakfast, but while I sit in the dining room eating mine, I hear a plaintive cry. I call out to her and she comes running to my chair, meowing loudly even though she has a furry mouse toy in her mouth. I've never figured out how she meows with a big toy in her mouth, but she does it anytime she feels lost and alone.

After breakfast, Bill and I sit out on the back porch reading the papers with the windows to the dining room open. Buzzer Baby comes to the windows and meows insistently. She is an indoor cat and can't be outside with us, so I get up and walk around with her from room to room. She walks by my side and as I look down at her, she is looking at me. Neither of us understands what the other wants, but all I can say is what I see when I look at her is cat love.