Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

Kitty died last night. Kitty joined my family in the late 80’s, when my best friend Lesley’s boyfriend Peter got busted for having a kitten in the Emory dorm. She was a strange one for sure. Real annoying lots of the time, brutally affectionate, hostile, cranky, but my mom and I always loved her so much. We knew she’s probably been harrassed by all the stupid college freshmen, and so we forgave her licking our head in the night while we tried to sleep. We forgave the foul moods. In her own way, she was a sweetie. Her health had recently deteriorated, and she was in a lot of pain. Mom said that Winnie has kept vigil the last few days. It’s really sad. She will certainly be missed.

Regards to my kitties today. I think they must have known I had a kitty loss, because they were both being very sweet, especially Maggie. I actually got some good purry lap time.

I’m not sure what I think of the gravestone my Dad has made, but I have to agree with the idea that Kitty was most certainly not a Christian. In fact, she stayed "Kitty" because the only other name that was hanging on was "Satan." My parents figured her for a Wiccan, so she got a pentacle, not a cross like sweet Henry. Personally, I voted for the Ankh with kitty ears on the top. Link to Dad’s post and a picture of the very odd grave marker.

Rest in peace, Kitty.

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Addendum: I want to include what my mom wrote about Kitty. It’s from the comments section on my Dad’s blog. Mom’s more of a comments section writer, less of a headline act, but this time, I want to use her words, because she was closest to Kitty:

Thanks to everyone for your condolences. Kitty was a strange cat – so much so that we could never agree on an appropriate name for her, and finally resorted to naming her what we had been calling her for a year. She was very passionate about everything. She loved passionately, purred loudly, attacked visciously. The veterinarians who treated her both had warnings on her chart. In Atlanta, there was a big red circle that said, “Will bite.” Here in Jasper, there was a note that said, “Do not treat without anesthetizing first.” I refused to have her anesthetized, feeling that would kill her in and of itself. But she also would snuggle up with me and try desperately to nurse on my thumb or my arm while purring with ferocity. She would walk on my head at night and lick my forehead, waking me. Whatever she did, she did it big. But in dying, she went softly. She was weak and allowed me to minister to her without complaint. When we found her body this morning, she had crawled under the bed to die alone, as cats do. She looked very peaceful, as if she were just taking a nap. She was never the elegant cat that Winnie is, but she died with great dignity. I only hope I can do it as well when my time comes.

With less time to write, I have to cover more topics at once, and I’m not the most organized sort (I save all that for work), so bear with me.

• Aaron and I got a chance to hang out with Peterson and his friend Ben last night. We met downtown and took a walk over to the North End, where we had a nice (albeit loud) dinner at Il Panino. I felt a bit guilty I’d chosen the place because the table next to us was SERIOUSLY loud. Ugh. I hate that. The food was good, and they made nice vegan treats for Peterson. He’s in town doing Queer 101, one of his one-man shows, for a local school. Peterson does the coolest thing. He’s an actor who spent 17 years of his life trying to not be gay, and then he came out. Now, he entertains and educates all over the world. He does pieces he write himself for all types of audiences, and then he often facilitates discussions afterwards. It’s such important work. He’ll be back for a performance of Doin’ Time at the Homo No Mo Halfway House on 10/25 at Northeastern. This is the piece I saw him perform in Memphis. It’s about his experience at Love in Action, the Memphis place (not a church or a mental health facility, but what is it?!) where he went to try to become straight. It’s a fascinating piece. I’ll make sure to plug it when the date approaches. Anyway, the Multicultural Educator in me just loved this show for so many reasons, and the theatre critic in me did, too. It’s soooo something you should see. (Read more about Love in Action if you’re interested.) Anyhoo, dinner was grand. Aaron got to talk about film with Ben, who actually runs a film festival – one I think that maybe my friend Poornima did once. And afterward, we went to Mike’s and got ice cream and sorbet and pastries. YUM!
• The very sad news is that one of my parents cats, Kitty, seems to be dying. Mom is sad because Dad is soooo not a cat person, so she doesn’t really have anyone to commiserate with her. Kitty hasn’t eaten for 4 days. I suggested she give kitty some diluted wet food, and Mom just called and said Kitty took a few sip of some condensed milk, so that’s good news. Maybe it was just a really bad toothache, although Kitty is something like 18, so death is certainly an option. Makes me sad though. She’s always been a really strange cat, but I don’t care. I love her immensely.
• Got a chance to talk to Elizabeth in Bloomington, which was really nice. I never call people. I don’t know why. I’ve just lost my interest in the phone over the last few busy years. It was great to hear her voice and to catch up with her. We may get to see her a bit in December, which would be grand.
• It’s a very grey and windy day. We’re actually thinking of going downtown for a bit of shopping. Aaron says REI is having a sale.

We are here. We are still working, but now it’s UNpacking. The girls were little troopers in the car. The neighbors we’ve met so far have been great. I am definitely going to have to learn some Spanish. More as my energy is less focused on unpacking!

Every morning way too early, my cats (who sleep in my bedroom with me) wake me up for food. The normal routine is that Maggie claws the covers off of me and meows in my face, and Jeep sits at the end of the bed staring. If I reach for either of them, they race towards the door. Last night, after arriving home from Murphy’s, where there was a Scenestars party at which Mr. E.J. was "spinning," I changed clothes and hung my bra (it smelled like a smoky bar) on the doorknob of the door to my bedroom to air out. This morning, when I opened the door to let the cats out to feed them. Maggie didn’t race past me. She stopped. She’d raced through the strap of the bra hanging on the inside of the door and was stopped dead in her paw tracks. As cats do, she just tugged. I figure if I hadn’t released her, she would have slingshotted back into the room. I usually don’t laugh out loud that soon after waking up, but it was a priceless scene! I was honestly surprised Jeep wasn’t laughing out loud, too! She saw the whole thing and seemed very confused.

I know I’ve been overblogging the past few days, but there’s been a lot of silly stuff to share. I promise I’ll slow down soon. These things come in waves.

So this dog-sized cockroach was on the wall in the kitchen. It was the second of its kind I saw tonight. I got a broom to kill it, and it took flight into the other room. I, of course, screamed. I hate those flying fuckers. Eek! I really do. So anyway, a little while later, I see Jeep very interested in the bathroom floor, and the little bugger is upside-down, kicking its legs into the air. She is interested but also scared. I mean, she backed away from it. It was, after all, the size of a dog. I got a magazine and THWACK! It, like the guy from earlier, was dead in an Abby-instant.

Please let there be no cockroaches in my bedroom while I sleep. Please oh please. I’m not cut out for this heat or these creatures. I’m really not.