I Love My Cat (Animal Books for Children) [Kindle Edition]
Fun Children’s Picture Book with Cartoon Images and Amazing Photos of Cats
I have a great love story.
It involves a cat. But, it is still a love story.
I was greatly affected by the death of our family cat, Mittens, when I was around age six. Mittens hated me. Not personally. She hated all kids (to be fair, my mom owned her pre-kids, so…). I have a lot of baby pictures with cat scratches on my face from trying to hug her. Apparently, it didn’t deter me. Sigh. I always loved cats.
I have a lot of baby pictures like this with Mittens. I loved her quite a bit…she was a super nice cat (minus the scratches and hate of children) through my first six years of life though. She was a sweet, cat, really!
So, as sad as I was about Mittens, I really, really, really wanted another cat. I missed Mittens, scratches and all. Please, mom and dad? For my 7th BIRTHDAY?!? It’s all I want! Yes, it worked. I got a cat from an ad that said ‘FREE KITTENS’ and that one of the kittens was orange. I wanted a ‘cat like Garfield’ was really my only specification. My mom called the person from the ad and a drop off deal was made.
Now remember when I said that we lived in a village in SE Ohio when I was a kid? Yeah, so, the person came to our house in a huge rusty truck and quickly left a big box on our door step with hissing and mewing inside before my parents could answer the door. My brother and I watched from the window in great anticipation. Apparently my new cat was going to be a lion.
Yet, Marigold was a sweetheart and my new friend, and that is also the story of how our family ended up with TWO cats. A orange and white kitten that I called Marigold and my brother adopted the other kitten stuffed in the box fighting with his brother that was an all-black kitten that he called Cosmic Creepers (from Bedknobs and Broomsticks.) I loved Marigold right away. Marigold was apprehensive (definitely a back country farm cat who had probably never been indoors), but seemed to know that we were meant to be together. He slept in my bed on my pillow almost every night we lived in the same house.
As a shy and quiet person who had childhood insomnia, Marigold was not only a trustworthy friend and companion, he proved to be an excellent noise machine and would usually lull me to sleep with his very loud purring. It was like he was made for me. We were friends, no matter our different species. I didn’t own him (we lived out in the boondocks and he was indoor/outdoor his whole life) and he didn’t own me. We just genuinely liked each other.
Here are a few pictures I asked my mom to find of Marigold and I and here is what I got!
Let’s see, this is of me with boy short hair (I have curly hair, so it was short when I was little) and I was on the deck my dad built (he built around our trees) with Marigold. I spent much of my time on that deck with him if I was not in the woods. Yup, I lived in Appalachia and ran around outside barefoot all the time with my cat. Ha!
Here are my siblings and I, which is probably the first time you’ve ever seen them! From what I remember, my great-grandparents had died and we had gotten a small chunk of money and got new couches (and carpet!) It was somewhat like Christmas since my great-grandparents never recognized us when we saw them their last years, so it was a sad way to get money, but I didn’t feel like we really knew them. Anyway, we always posed with cats on our super cool new couch (since we never got new things so this was oh so exciting!). I’m wearing a Cleveland Browns shirt with my ever trusty sidekick, Marigold. By then, my little sister had added a third cat to the mix to the household, too.
Marigold and I spent every night together and most days. Until I went to college. Marigold was getting older. Considered an elderly cat, he wouldn’t be happy in a cramped rental house with a bunch of idiot teenage roommates. I was so sad. So sad, in fact, I did adopt a kitten who acclimated to college life well. Yet, I felt like I betrayed my friend although he was always happy to see me and acted like normal when we saw each other. He lived a great many years with my parents and I remember exactly where I was when Marigold passed away (I got the call from my mom while sitting and talking at my father-in-laws) when I was in my middle twenties.
By then, our cat-human relationship had spanned almost eighteen years from the time I had barely turned seven. It was like what I would imagine losing a sibling may be like? I just don’t have any sort of way to explain it – it was heartbreaking.
My family and I own three adopted rescue cats that our kids love and I hope both my girls make a connection like I did with Marigold. Awesome little ebooks like I Love My Cat are just great reminders of the role the feline plays in many of our lives and to cherish those relationships. Be kind to our animal friends and, yes, I-no, WE- love my (our) cat(s).
I Love My Cat (Animal Books for Children) [Kindle Edition]
List Price: $ 2.99 (Kindle Edition currently on sale)
Momma's Bacon 