I started this blog post on the 3-year anniversary of the day we had to let Wanda go. I say this only because Otto and Wanda were kind of the gold standard of demonstrating love. Wanda was known to stare lovingly into our eyes for minutes at a time (unusual for a cat), and she would do what we called the "pucker," where she would seem to mimic an air kiss. You never had to wonder if Wanda loved you or not. Otto showed his love by wanting to be right by your side every minute (and by "your," I mean "Sean's"). Otto loved Sean so intensely and exclusively that he would go into a deep depression if Sean had to go out of town for a few days and Otto got stuck at the house with just me. Otto loved me, of course, but he ADORED Sean, and it was obvious where his primary affection was directed.
So the week I started this post demonstrated a wide variety of examples of our buddies' feelings for us, both wonderful and misguided.
For example, Lionel decided to fight back against Coco for once. Just that one time, he decided to stand his ground and hiss at Coco from the top of the bed, while Coco dejectedly slunk off to pout in the living room. Lionel had had enough of being muscled off the bed and he was going to snuggle with me, by golly!
I probably should have gone after her and comforted her, because Coco retaliated the next day by pooping on the bed, right where I sleep. I wish I were lying. We didn't find it until it was almost bedtime, so it put off sleeping for another few hours while we washed sheets and the mattress pad. I think it's not going too far to quote Glenn Close from Fatal Attraction when I say that Coco "will not be ignored." Lesson learned.
Zelda shows her affection by sitting on the patio table with us while we eat, purring happily and blinking slowly at us. I know that doesn't sound like much, but you'd have to know her to get it. She's been showing her love for Sean lately by supervising all of his work in his office. She's become a daily presence there, doing nothing but enjoying his company while he works and providing welcome stress relief.
Cooper, for his part, suddenly decided one day last month that he needed to be a cuddle-pants for ten minutes or so right as I was heading off to work. He head-bunted and rubbed his cheek against mine, jumped on my shoulder and chewed on my hair. Cooper is usually a bit of a quicksilver in the love department. He'll jump on my computer keyboard for a brief hit of cuddle, then off he goes to play again for a while. On that day, it was like he couldn't get enough. Purring loudly, grinning widely, he just kept up the contact until I was covered in his fur and had to go wash my face. I might have been a little frantic getting the store open that day since I got there a little later than usual, but it was totally worth it.
Stella was able to demonstrate her love recently when we took her to the vet a few weeks ago. I had been dreading the eventuality of having to do that, because Stella is a Tortoiseshell/Calico (or "Tortico," as I like to call her), and sometimes she can get a tiny bit "attitudinal." Not so for this vet visit. She was the very model of a perfectly behaved, perfectly sane, adorable fuzz-bug. She acted completely relaxed the whole time, even when they had to take her to the back to do a procedure that probably wasn't comfortable. When she wasn't in the back, she sat listening to the vet with a look that said, "oh, I understand. Oh, that completely makes sense. NOW I get why that happened..." It was an adorable and beautiful sight to behold, and everyone fell in love with her. On the way home, we encountered some traffic and I had to (not so gently) use my brakes a few times, but she just gazed at me through the holes in the carrier with a look of utter confidence.
I tell you this story because Stella and I reached a new level of understanding that day. It was like she was telling me she completely trusted me. Maybe going for a 20-minute-one-way car-ride wasn't her idea of a perfect Saturday morning, but she trusted that I had a good reason for it and that I wouldn't let her come to any harm. That spoke volumes to me and made my heart swell with love and affection for her. She's a smart girl, and a beautiful girl, but she's also a brave, trusting and loving girl as well. We kind of hit the jackpot with her.
And Maynard. What can I say about him? All you'd have to do is hear his sweet, trilling, question-asking voice to know that he tells us all the time he loves us. I think the part where he runs to the door every time we come back from being gone somewhere, even for five minutes, and flops on the ground trilling repeatedly at our feet ("you've been gone so long! I thought you would never get back!"), might be a giveaway as well. He plays incessantly with his little koosh ball (more about that later) and brings it to us and drops it in our hands to throw it again. "More please!" He just completely trusts that we will keep doing this for him as long as he wants to. He's also gotten a little over-excited lately and taken to biting me on the feet if he smells something that sets him off. Our vet calls it "territorial biting," so I guess that's the misguided part of his affection. It hasn't happened very often, and it's a trifle disconcerting when it does, but it's balanced out by way more positive forms of affection.
Right now, he's cuddled in the pouch we bought for him so I wouldn't have to scootch him off my lap every time he wants to snuggle and a customer comes in the door. I called Sean tonight and whispered to him I was being "held hostage." He knows me well enough to know that what I meant was I had tried hours ago to leave, but Maynard needed some cuddle time and I couldn't bring myself to deny him. So here we sit, two hours after our store has closed, Maynard in a cute, sleepy little ball in my dinosaur pouch, me just trying hard not to disturb him too much.
Yep, I think this demonstration of love goes both ways.
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| Re-creation of Maynard's current cuddle-position |
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| One of the first days he crawled into the pouch |
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| Here's what it looks like in action |
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