purr

Since today is “Throwback Thursday,” I thought I would share a piece that I wrote about a year ago for my previous blog …

My mom baked some cornbread this week. It was delicious, but it was slightly overdone. Mom heard the oven timer go off, but she couldn’t get out of her chair because Sheldon was all curled up on her lap! Now my dear mother will roll her eyes at me when I do something like this, but she knows very well that lap-time with Sheldon is precious. We’ve had Shel a little over a year now, and he’s always been a snuggle-bun, but he’s devoted all his snuggles to me … until just a few months ago. Mom was so excited the first time Shel jumped up in her lap and settled down for a little nap, she could hardly wait to tell me about it when I came home that day, and I was just as excited for her! Our beloved Oliver T used to sit with Mom almost every day, and I knew she’d been missing that since he’d passed away in March 2013.

We feel so privileged when our cats bestow their affection on us, and contrary to what many people believe, it’s not because cats are less affectionate than dogs. I love dogs too, but I think it just takes a little longer to earn a cat’s affection. A cat who has come to know you and trust you and love you will shower you with just as much adoration as a dog, but without the accompanying shower of drool! Cats in loving homes are every bit as devoted and loyal to their family members as are their canine counterparts; my own cats have proven that to me on a daily basis, and cats around the world are finally getting the credit and the headlines that they deserve as well.

A case in point: the kitty who so warmly welcomed his soldier daddy home from deployment. (Just click that highlighted text and a video will open up in a new window.) The video was all over the interwebs last week, because we’ve seen about 100 videos of dogs welcoming their soldiers home, and this was one of the first cat welcomes on record. And it’s ADORABLE. But you know what? My Oliver T used to leap into my arms when he was a kitten almost every time I came home, and as an adult he would rush to meet me at the door and then have a good scratch on my left shoe. Then I would pick him up for a snuggle and up the stairs we’d go. Yes, we went through a lot of shoes … but I wouldn’t dream of denying Oliver his greeting ritual! Now old curmudgeon Harry, he’s usually too lazy to meet me at the door, but if Mom and I have gone out together for awhile, Harry is right there when we come home. As for Sheldon, he takes after Oliver (minus the shoe-digging) and almost always comes flying downstairs when he hears me announce my arrival. Oftentimes I see him watching for me from the window above our garage. It warms my heart beyond description!

Dogs are wonderful, and of course there’s nothing like a big sloppy kiss and a wagging tail to let you know you’re loved (although I have to say that personally, I can do without the big sloppy kiss!) Cats are no less demonstrative, their love is just revealed to us in the fabulously feline way: the blessings of the snuggle, the adoring gaze, and of course, the purr.