Every Paw is Family

A few weeks ago, we found the Magnetic Poetry set that used to be on our fridge when we lived in Charleston.  I spent the better portion of 20 minutes putting each tiny little individual piece on our refrigerator, wishing fervently as I did so that our fridge would not suddenly die on us.

The next day, it died on us.  Oh, the irony.  

Sean got it working again by vacuuming out the back of it, but that lasted just a little over a week, and this week it died again.  But before it did, Sean formed the words:  "every paw is family."  That sums it up pretty well for us.

Our Magnetic Poetry set is cat-themed (but of course!), and we've had a lot of fun with it over the years.  The thing I like about it is that it forces you to be creative because you only have the words that are available right in front of you--you have to get across a concept without using the Merriam-Webster to do it, and somehow the words seem to come from some very real, very emotional place as a result.  Kind of cool for a bunch of letters that you rearrange randomly on a household appliance.  

Here's a sampling of some of the "poetry" that Sean and I have come up with based on the Magnetic Poetry set, regarding each of the buddies.

Mister:  "gray & white his hiss means chase is out."  Mister is a love-bug, but he can be a prickly love bug.  Just today, he gave me a good swat because I touched him by accident while he was sleeping.  

Mango:  "wild kitty when will she be my friend?"  Again, that pretty much sums it up.

Otto:  "warm siamese cat drinks like a fish."  Siamese cats are known for their avid water consumption, and Otto is no exception.  It is speculated that their high water intake might be one of the factors contributing to their impressive longevity, since so many cats fall victim to kidney problems.  

Wanda:  "soft meow you milk our laps & do not hear us."  (They didn't have an option to use the word "arm" instead of "laps," but that would have been way more appropriate.)  

Reggie:  "black bold everything is beautiful and wonderful food."  I may have mentioned before that Reggie will eat nearly anything.  

There isn't one for Elroy, because at the time we did this batch, we didn't know him yet.  I'll have to get working on that.

Here's a bonus, though:  "curious heat, nose and ear cool mean my whisker safe.  I purr."  Because of the common Siamese trait of near-sightedness, both Otto and Wanda have had brushes with candles that left them with only a partial set of whiskers.  (They did grow back eventually...)  Wanda's happened on her first birthday, when we got cans of salmon and tuna for them, upended them on plates and put a single birthday candle in the top of each of them to sing Happy Birthday to them.  (Memo to self: don't put candles on food around the Meezers...)

Today we got a new fridge, so I get to put all of the letters back again.  You can bet I'm going to be looking for the perfect phrase to describe Elroy when I do.