I have loved one cat and one woman in the same way. Another woman, I love in a slightly different way: a version of father/daughter. That is the sum total of the recipients of my love. I know this is personal, but isn’t it important to discuss it? Isn’t it entirely normal and natural? We shouldn’t shy away from these experiences and emotions because they are so much more meaningful than most of the other cat information on the internet. In any event, for me, this is historical. In computer terms, the events are in the archives.
These experiences are the real bits of our lives. So much of it is superficial. Anyway, I want to briefly write about Missie again and the woman I loved.
Have you loved a cat more than a person? Or the other way around? This is a tricky question.
For me, my love for Missie is equal to my love for Susan. It is a different kind of love. My love for my cat, who died almost 20 years ago, is the love of a father for the daughter he never had, and that is not anthropomorphizing my cat. I loved her as a cat companion. My love for Susan, a past girlfriend, is just pure human to human love.
I have not seen Susan for 40 years. I don’t have a photograph of her anymore. Susan, if you are out there, please leave a comment. You won’t. You might not be alive. If the rainbow bridge exists I hope I can meet my cat again.
I am very pragmatic about this. I believe it is an important but difficult subject but I am very practical about the whole thing. I have no expectations.
Above is a large format picture – a copy of a print – of Missie. She was a moggie with some Norwegian Forest Cat in her. Nothing special, generally, but special to me, personally. We were very close. She would sleep next to me, on my arm, sometimes. That is a picture that I keep safe in my mind. I also have a mental picture of her running from the back of the garden to me in the kitchen when I called on my return from work. So sad.
My love for her is absolutely pure and it is exactly as it was 20 years ago.
She is sweet looking, isn’t she? She was extremely athletic and courageous; actually fearless. Perhaps that contributed to her death on a road. I remember her in a special way.
As for Susan, we met at the Regent Street Polytechnic, Regent Street, London, in the first years of 1970. This was right at the center of London. I won’t say more.
Micheal , I had a beautiful male cat (Joe) he looked just like Missie except he had a black beard. 3 years ago he died in my arms of heart failure, he was 6 I miss him everyday. It is wonderful to hear men talk about cats with so much love. My cats has always been there for me, and-unlike my other family members they never treat me disrespectfully . I will always love cats and all animals more than people.
Thank you Kevin 🙂 I think Scorpios are great cat lovers too, maybe there is nothing in our star signs really that influences us as my sister is Taurus and our late mother was Saggitarius and I’m Cancer and we are all cat lovers. Anyway almost all cat lovers are good caring people I think.
Hmm I feel an article coming on ……………
Thanks Kevin. I totally understand you. I feel the same way. Thanks for the compliments about Missie. She was beautiful. Quite small in size but a little pocket rocket 😉
ruth,i enjoy your comments and your way of thinking about cats.in my eyes a cat can do no wrong.another thing that i want to mention is that i’m a scorpio,and so is my sister and we are both cat lovers…kevin r.
michael,if rambling on about cats that i have lost was a sin,then i would definately be going to hell.however, i still have a hard time looking at old pictures of a couple of cats that i have lost because i’m afraid it will make me cry that they are not with me anymore..p.s.,missie was a very beautiful cat…kevin
elisa,thank you for making me laugh,you are right about finding the right one who will accept a house full of cats,but if i had it my way i would have a castle with a cat for every room in it and my own live in vet to make sure the cats are healthy and a staff to make sure all the litter boxes are clean at all times.the best part of that would be the enjoyment of being surrounded by what i love most in my life…CATS.