They Choose Us

I had to say goodbye to our cat Visa this week after 18 years of loving companionship. She came to us when we were living in Seattle in 1996, a starving, bedraggled, very sick kitty who managed to pull herself into Greg's path as he was coming home from work late one night. We rushed her to the emergency veterinarian, where the prognosis for her recovery was very grave. "Are you sure you want to do this for a stray cat?", said the vet. "Yes.", we replied. She chose us, we would not abandon her. The vet warned us not to get too attached, as he expected she would not make it through the night. But against all odds, after 3 days in the hospital and a $900 medical bill (and the vet just didn't take American Express), Visa came home with us. 

She joined our family with 3 other cats who chose to be ours. Not long before Visa came to us, we had been selected by a long haired grey tiger striped kitty who kept coming to our apartment door and meowing loudly for us to let her in. One night while watching a favorite TV show, we did, and Dharma took her place with her 2 adopted sisters who had moved with us from New York. Q-Tip was a short haired grey with white nose, white paws and a thin white stripe along her belly who climbed into Greg's lap at a friends house. He brought her home after seeing her being tormented by an ignorant toddler. And Pyewacket was a solid black short hair, a true 'witches cat' and undisputed queen of our household. She followed Greg home from a night out in Queens, crossing a dozen busy city streets to stay with him. When he got to his apartment building, Pyewacket ran ahead of him up four flights of stairs, somehow knowing exactly which apartment was his and waiting patiently for him to open the door to her new home.

While their stories and temperaments were very diverse, the common thread for all our feline housemates is the fact they they chose us. We never went looking for a cat. The closest we came was with our most recent adoptee, Toby, who was abandoned as a kitten in the parking lot at the Disney Reservation Center. Greg spent a couple of nights coaxing him out of the bushes. Sadly, Toby was not with us long, developing a tumor in his throat about 2 years after he came to us. But he and all of our cats had good lives with us, and brought us much happiness. Dharma, Q-Tip and Pyewacket departed this world after 14 years, 17 years and 21 years respectively, and with such long lifespans, I know we were doing something right with our kitties. I will dearly miss Visa and her warm companionship. I am not looking for another cat to fill that void, especially with my plans to lead travel groups away from home for weeks at a time. But as Greg taught me, it really isn't up to me. If I am chosen, I will be ready.