Living the Dream in Retirement
Happy Adoption Anniversary to Reo who joined our family one year ago! Her sweet disposition, boundless energy and silly antics have brought us laughter, happiness and pure love. I’m forever grateful to the family who fostered her as a feral rescue and let me become her mom.
Biscotti has been amazing about sharing things with his little sister Reo who we adopted 5 months ago. She’s taken over ownership of the cat tree, sleeps on top of the mini fridge on the porch both of which were previously Biscotti’s domain.
The one spot he still called his own is my desk chair. Often during the day and always at night, it’s where he sleeps and chills out when he needs a bit of “me-time”.
Until this weekend…..
Time will tell if Biscotti will stage a coup to reclaim his ownership, time-share or simply wedge himself in next to Reo for a snuggle. For now, he’s tolerant.
My name is Reo and my mom helped me with this blog post, she’s best kitten mom ever.
For a few hours on sunny afternoons, my dining room window showers rainbows across the floor and walls. Today I took my new kitten Reo into the dining room to show her. She proceeded to strike a few poses with the rainbows on her fur…
On Saturday I adopted a kitten named Reo from Feral Kitty Trappers. Biscotti and I had been struggling with the loss of our sweet Tipper and when I came across her profile on petfinder.com I knew I had to meet her. Just five months old, she’s a little love bug and a welcome addition to our family. While she and Biscotti are a bit wary of each other, I know in time they’ll be inseparable.
A feral colony of three sibling kittens born in my garden this summer, have decided to stay on for the winter.
The black kitty I named Coal. From a very young age he’s been the most gregarious. The kitchen window looks out on my garden (not pretty in winter). When I walk in the kitchen, Coal jumps from his napping spot on my jacuzzi onto the window ledge. He is captivated by me, regardless of what I’m doing. Anytime I’m cooking is his favorite time to visit.
Recently he’s taken to high-fiving me through the glass then walking back and forth rubbing against the window. He’s now “trained me” to pet him through the glass. This goes on until I’m tired. Not once a day but rather each time he sees me – including after dark when he’s visible only by his topaz eyes.
As a result, my kitchen window is dotted with nose-prints from Coal and fingerprints from me. It’s messy but I love the connection we have and look forward to seeing him each day.
My fancy zip-up, ultra suede puzzle mat seems to be irresistible to Biscotti. He struck so many cute poses that I abandoned the puzzle to take these photos. I mean, how do you resist this sweet boy?
Taken from two angles as I laid on the floor to get these shots.
Too cute!
Pets provide companionship and entertainment but also unconditional love. They sense when you need them to be close.
During those first months after losing Spence I chose to be alone while working through my pain. My cats, Tipper and Biscotti (aka “The Biscuit”) were a godsend. Already the most lovable cats, they snuggled with me for hours every day. They didn’t expect much beyond food, water and a clean litter box. Caring for them was self care and therapeutic for me; they too had lost Spence. Hospice had set up a bed for him in that last week and Tipper and Biscotti provided him comfort in those final days. Sensing the gravity and sadness, they calmly slept next to him for hours on end and were there when he drew his last breath.
Self care can take many forms; sharing our loss helped me to connect to the nurturing part of myself. It was small but it was a purpose.
Days and weeks went by when one day I caught myself singing and dancing to some song while making a snack. Food, music and dancing in my kitchen had been such a natural thing for me in the past. I don’t recall the song (but I remember the sun was shining brightly that day) and it struck me how long it had been yet how natural it felt. As time moved forward, those moments became more frequent and less noteworthy. The cats and I still had our snuggle time every day but they also returned to their cat tree, their “Cirque du Soleil” antics and play time.
It does get better….
