fourteen

While I do want to acknowledge Earth Day, today has additional significance and shall be celebrated with much love, skritches, and tuna.

Scout is 14 today. When I became his person I was told that he was exactly eight weeks old; counting back, that meant he arrived in this world on this day in 1994.

When I became his person . . . I think it's a story I've told before on the blog, but perhaps it bears repeating. It's a good story, I think.

I was living in a suburb of Minneapolis with a friend and her cat, a gorgeous, fearsome hunter who would frequently leave us presents on the doorstop. Sometimes these presents would be not quite all the way dead and Alex was always compelled to take these wee suffering creatures to the nearby Humane Society for--if not rehabilitation, then compassionate disposal. We knew that many times these animals were too far gone to recover, but if there was a chance, she wanted the animals to have it.

Such was the case when, in June of 1994, I came home from work one day to find a tiny field mouse shivering near the retaining wall of the garage. I bent over it (ah, the days before digicams and blogs, otherwise this would all be recorded) and realized that its leg was broken. As I stood there, wondering what my next step would be--see, it was always Alex who found the injured animals, always Alex who took them to the Humane Society--Alex drove into the driveway. She saw what I saw, then begged me to come with her to the Humane Society and fill out the paperwork, since "they're tired of dealing with me by now, I'm sure." I agreed, and we found a shoebox and a towel and carefully packed the tiny injured mouse up, got ourselves into Alex's Jeep, and drove the five or ten minutes to the Humane Society.

The people at the counter weren't exactly representing the organization well, because they thought we were nuts. Injured bunnies are one thing, but field mice? I found their lack of compassion disturbing, but I said nothing and filled out the necessary paperwork.

On our way out, we passed by a man and a woman walking in with a kitten perched parrot-style on the man's shoulder. The adorableness of this kitten made us stop in our tracks, and we cooed at it. The woman said, with all the exhaustion of someone who just experienced catbirthing and the dispersal of a large litter, "You want him?" We looked at each other. We had, in fact, been discussing the possibility of getting a second cat. Alex asked all the important questions: sex, age, health, shots, etc. while this kitten--then named Antonio--looked right into my eyes and said, "mew."

And so, bypassing the Humane Society all together, we walked out with a kitty perched on my shoulder.

He is named Scout after To Kill a Mockingbird--Alex's idea, after I vetoed "Atticus" and she vetoed "Boo," and we decided that after neutering it wouldn't matter that a boy cat would be named after a girl character.

At 14, he's somewhere between 63 and 78 in human years, but he's still such a kitten. And after all this time, I still believe that there is little in this world more comforting or wonderful than a plump cat with the softest fur who will let you bury your face in his stomach when you need to.

Comments

[chris]

Awwww, Happy Birthday, Scout! Love the adoption story . . . also how adorable is that baby picture??!!

[Carole]

He's beautiful! I'm glad you found each other.

[Kathy]

Happy Birthday, Scout!!!

[anne]

Happy Birthday, Scout! (And yeah, I used to take injured baby birds to the vet. They probably had quite the collection of shoeboxes from me.)

[nipper jenn]

OMG! I've never seen that kitten picture of Scout before. What a sweetheart he was and remains to this day.

Who's a KITTY!??!

[rebecca]

OMG! That baby picture of Scout is the cutest thing I've ever seen!

[monica]

Happy Scout Day!! I can still see the kitten that he is in his eyes!

[anj]

Happy Bday Scout! My main man in all things sweet and soft. Love the story and the kitten pic. I just am a silly for those types of details.

[Shannon]

Oh! what a BABY! I think I have to go squeeze my little black kitten demons now.

[ann]

that kitten pic is so precious! Happy birthday, Scout. :)

[greta]

Happy Birthday dear Scout!
Sending skritches...
enjoy the tuna!
xoxox
Auntie Greta

[alison]

Aww, yay! Happy birthday, Scout! I think I've seen that kitten photo before, so I feel like I'm going back through a familiar (and adorable) baby book. :)

[heather]

mwah! happy birthday scout!

[Juno]

Kitties are bestest. Either you know that or you don't. Happy birthday Scout.

[Lee Ann]

We have small Scout-ish kittens next door right now, and no room here at the appartement...I'd give the world for a fuzzy tummy. Lucky you, even if the old fart pulls out the claws sometimes. :-)

[jackie]

Awww, I don't think I ever knew the Scout story.

Happy Birthday Scout!!

[maryse]

happy birthday scout!

[Wendy]

Happy belated birthday, Scout. Lucy sends you purrs and kisses.

[Rachael]

Happy belated! God, I love that baby picture of him. Having met him, I know he still looks just like that. Under the fluff. xo

[claudia]

Dear Scout. I love you. Sorry to have missed your birthday.