life with Charlie • those pearly whites • episode 4

We’d had cats for close to 40 years when suddenly, kidney disease took the last two. Ben was the sickest and went first—Bella two months later. Had we been 20 years younger, we would have done the sensible thing and waited a while before filling that empty place, but we aren’t younger, and we didn’t wait. It was winter, political games were heating up, and we had just survived a scary bout of Covid 19. Valentine’s day was not going to brighten up that scenario. We needed a furry, four-legged friend in the house. Within a week we found Charlie…nearly two years old, beautiful, friendly, smart, and so on. There was something about him that seemed worth the gamble. We took him home.

After about 2 months of total besottedness with our little genius, we asked our visiting veterinarian friend, Jeff, to meet the incomparable Charlie. In a matter of minutes, Jeff determined that he couldn’t be a 2-year old: “Just look at those teeth”, he said. We did, and suddenly besotted moved over a little, leaving room for reason and recognition. 

 “Of course…and those little pink toe pads too! ‘I’ll look into it”, said my suddenly awakened left brain.  

The next day—through calls and emails—date discrepancies turned up in the adoption papers, which made him about 10 months when we adopted him, not 21—nearly a year younger than we’d been told! In addition, we learned that just days before we found him, he’d been adopted and returned after just one week, for bothering the resident dog. Kittenish behavior for sure, not that of a 2 year old cat—orange or not. All that aside…not sure why the pretty little white teeth and smallish size (at a mere 8.4 lbs), didn’t raise questions as to his appropriate age in the first cat clinic exam. No problem… just a little mental adjustment for us. 

We are comforted to know that 5 years from now, he will take longer naps.

Bye Dr. Jeff, thanks for coming and setting my friends straight.  Come again and we’ll have a good game of catch the flying bird feathers.

Charlie is now 13 months old, and that is comparable to 15 human years, according to the American Animal Hospital Association guidelines. We have a teenager! He is bigger, taller and has a teenager’s joie de vivre. Next year, at 2 years old, he’ll be 24 human years, with the self-confidence of a 20-something with a master of laws degree. I’ll be somewhere in the vicinity of exhausted. But still besotted, no doubt.

Is it snack time now?

christmas letter from me to you

This year we wrote and sent the catch-up, Christmas Letter. There was so much to say and so little blood left in our veins to say it all, that we decided to create a picture-book letter. Between email and the post office we got them all sent out. Then I thought of all of you who read this blog and decided to separate text from art so I could include all of you by posting it here.:

Greetings to one and all,

Time feels completely different at the end of the year. Different than in… say…February. At this time of the year, we think a lot about past; people we’ve met, people we’ve lost, pivotal events, past Christmases….February is more of a future think. Will it snow? When will it be warm again? Just how long will it take to loose my “winter insulation” (you know…the holiday feasts that have taken up residence on our bodies)?

Last year, our circumstances didn’t allow the “time” needed to send greetings to you, so this year, we will try to make up for that with an especially “condensed” greeting.

The benefit to us in writing this may have already eclipsed the goal of this letter. As we started the outline, it was soon clear that the “Gratefulness” list was impressively longer than the “losses” and “challenges” lists. (Granted, some of the line items could have gone either way.) So we start the “gratefulness” list acknowledging that it is God’s grace that allowed us to see the bigger picture of our lives.

We lost some very significant people in the past two years; Naomi’s sister Florence, our dear friend and Naomi’s adopted daughter Bettina, our builder/handyman, neighbor, scrabble playing friend and sage Ken, Judy’s dear special cousin Sam…and her faithful old cat Frank.

Gained: New friends, deepening relationships, reconnecting with friends from the past,*new family, Naomi in remission, Judy still has a job, our 33rd anniversary, Naomi’s art integrated into the worship experience in two churches, Judy’s re-entry into music, the books of Marcus Borg & Richard Rohr…and the list goes on.  Naomi & Judy

*The new family seen here with Big Dawg and me…Darling Daughter, the Captain, Miss Green and Miss Pink…the fabulous grandchildren…just add water and stir. See June 6, 2010 /  Family Plan.