Sunday, December 7, 2008

how do i love thee? let me count the ways (and the days)

So he leaves again
Parting as such sweet sorrow?
No way! It just sucks.

I'll bet you can imagine what she was referring to. He comes back in less than two weeks to pick us up, swing us all through Billings for time with Molly and JR and my family (hi, Grammie! can't wait for you to meet him!), then drive ALL THE WAY back to Spokane to have Christmas with his family.

Side note that I forgot to include in my post below: my old cat, Calvin, still lives. I got a call from the dear woman who had adopted him, letting me know that he turned 16 in November, and that I was welcome to visit him any time. She had no idea that I had a son who loves cats, nor that my reason for giving Calvin up (big Blake) had died, and went so far as to offer Calvin back to me if I wanted him. Bless her heart. I said, no, thank you, our space is too small, but we will be heading out to Manhattan to see if he still remembers me.

Good old Calvin. I gave him up before I got married because big B had a dog that killed cats (we had documented evidence of this), and I figured that was one MAJOR fight we could avoid. Big Blake also gave up Zouri (his dog), in a gesture of good faith and fairness. Calvin and I journeyed from Billings to Bozeman to Seattle and back. Super affectionate, he learned to climb a ladder when I slept in a loft, let me flip him on his back for tummy rubs, and had a purr that was loud and persistent, though otherwise unremarkable. He was not popular with many of my roomies, which was perfectly understandable, as he was alternately wildly anorexic and willfully incontinent, puking everywhere and/or peeing in my closets.

Gosh, I've missed him. And yet, I'm still perfectly happy being cat-less. Hmmm.

3 comments:

Andrea said...

Oooohhh Calvin.

Lindsey K said...

I LOVED Calvin!!!!! and can not believe he is still alive, good genes. So fun to see you last night hope you have a good rest of your week and I will call if I have time while in Bozeman next weekend.

Jessielynn said...

So glad to hear someone else's dog kills cats: Zeke is generally a terrific dog, but I wondered if my friendship with Christine would survive that incident... Dumb dog.