A Celebration of life

Baby came into our home when I was 13 years old. She belonged to my dad's girlfriend who had moved into a place where she could not take cats. When we first got her, she was so scared of people, that she would hide all of the time. The only way we knew we had a cat was when we saw the food disappearing and the litter box filling up.

Over time, she started getting a little more open. If I sat really still, she would come up to me and let me pet her...as long as I didn't move too much. Heaven forbid I had to sneeze...that sent her into hiding for another few hours.

My dad was gone a lot, and I was the one spending a lot of quality time with her. Over time, she started becoming more and more comfortable with me, and was slowly becoming MY kitty. When I moved out of my dad's house in 2003, I took her with me knowing that I couldn't be without her.

She blossomed into a completely normal cat over time. Nothing seemed to phased her anymore. I found out that she had all of these really strange and quirky behaviors. For example, she would get on her hind legs and ask to be picked up. Once you were holding her, she would wiggle her way on her back so you were cradling her like a baby. My guess is that this is how she got her name.

She loved noodles, of all things. Any time I had anything with any kind of pasta, she would beg for it. She would do this adorable thing where she would stick one paw up in the air to let you know that she wanted something. I of course reinforced this adorable behavior and she started to do it all the time. So damn cute.

Sometimes, when she wanted my attention, she would put one paw up on the seat of the chair I was sitting on and tap my arm with the other to let me know it was time to pay attention to her. She would follow that up with some kind of meow or nudge to further her point.

Man, was she vocal. She knew when it was her turn in conversation to speak, and often took the opportunity to do so. All you had to do was look at her and say something and she would meow right when you were done. One time, I came into the bathroom to find Brian having a full on conversation with her.

Brian: "what?"
Baby: "meow."
Brian: "really?"
Baby:"meow."
Brian: "I don't think that is a good investment this time of year."
Baby: "meow."
Brian: "alright, it's your decision."
Baby: "meow."

Too flippin cute.

She came when she was whistled for. Over time, the whistling evolved into a tune called the "sweetie baby call." She came running every friggin time, and would give a meow as if she was asking to find out what you wanted.

She would give me nips under the chin. Whenever she was in a happy cuddly mood, she would crawl up on my chest or in my lap, and give me a little nip right under my chin. I asked a cat expert about this once, and she told me it is a thing that mama and baby kittens do as a sign of affection. I considered myself lucky to have this kind of bond with her.

She was an absolutely amazing cat. I was estimating that she was 1-2 years old when I got her, which would make her around 13-14 at her time of death. Come to find out, she was actually 3-4 when we got her, which means she was more like 16-17 years old! I think that this has helped me to feel even more like she had a long and happy life, and made me feel even more confident in our decision to let her go in the end. Until the last week of her life, she had never needed to go to the vet for any major health issues, and really did live a healthy, and happy life.

Rest in peace my sweet angel. You enriched my life, and I feel so incredibly lucky to have had you in it. You will be missed.