Can you feel the love?

As I sat at my keyboard early this Sunday morning, I felt as if someone or something was watching me. This is what I found sitting on the edge of the computer table as I typed.

This is my good friend, Alleycat. She likes to walk back and forth across the keyboard or sit in front of the screen as I try to read blogs or type. She is trying to get my attention and wants me to stop what I'm doing rather than play on the computer. Right now, she's sitting next to my right arm watching me type this post.

Alleycat is my oldest cat. My son found her in the alley in back of my parents house in Northern Indiana in July 1993. My mother had just died and we were about to return home to Kentucky. She was about three months old when we found her. We decided to name her Alleycat. We brought her home with us and she has lived with us ever since.

As you can see, she is what is known as a tuxedo cat because of her white markings. She is very sophisticated and finicky. She only wants to be petted when she decides she wants some loving. Otherwise, she likes to bite the hand that feeds her.

Alleycat has lately decided she wants to sleep in bed with me. Normally we find her sleeping in some high spot such as a filing cabinet or bookcase. (She is now lying on top of the filing cabinet watching me type about her.) Thirteen years is quite a long time for a cat to live. Alleycat is in terrific health and we expect her to live quite a few more years.

When I was growing up, I had a cat named Smitty the Kitty who I found when I was five years old. Smitty was my pet until I left home at age 18. Even after I left, he lived at my parents' house until he died at age 22. All the time I was in school, he would walk me to the corner of our street in the morning and would meet me at the corner to walk me home in the afternoons. This is a picture of me, Motherkitty, and Smitty the Kitty, circa 1950, in front of our house. Even after I left home, he remembered me whenever I came to visit. What a good cat he was. We all loved him and mourned him when he died.

Alleycat is a constant reminder to me of my parents. They took care of Alleycat's mother who was a stray living on the wild side in the alley behind their house. Dad would put food and milk out for the mother, so he was happy that we decided to keep this cute little kitten. He knew that at least one of the litter would survive.

It will be a sad day for us when it is Alleycat's time to go to kitty cat heaven. She's my husband's favorite cat. We know she had a good life even if she had to put up with my many other cats all these years. We should have named her Miss Priss because she always has her nose up in the air. We all love her anyway and will mourn her when she dies.