We had a successful Saturday. We made a lot of new friends, ate good food, sold a lot of dresses. But it was a sad day for me because my husband and I had to say goodbye to our Scruffy cat. Dr. Schleape at Caring Hearts Animal Clinic is one of the best veterinarians in town and he is certainly an animal whisperer. He was the vet who found our Romeos bladder cancer. He has helped me fix many feral cats that people have literally dumped on my back doorstep here at my shop. Scruffy was one of those cats. Seven years ago I came to work and I saw this little black blur disappear under my mobile mini in my back parking lot. I was pretty used to a lot of little blurs and was already leaving out water and dry cat food. So I wasnt too worried about this little blur being hungry. I had two beagle puppies, Romeo and Katie, who came to work with me every morning. I start work early and my puppies were good company for me. My husband would pick them up around noon because by then the shop was bustling and my puppies were pretty social and some people dont like animals (go figure). I would leave the back door open for some fresh air. Like I said, I usually start early and sometimes I dont see the light of day except for those brief moments. One day, after the puppies were gone, the little blur crawled out from under the mobile mini, made an appearance in my doorway, looked up at me so forlornly and uttered her first very melancholy, meow. She was so dirty and her fur matted and disheveled. Her meow was a cross between I give up and Help me!. She had been this blur for months before she finally decided to trust me. I named her Scruffy, just liked she looked. It was love at first meow for me. For eight months the routine was the same. The puppies would come in the morning. When they left Scruffy would venture in the back door to find some spot to sleep. She liked Elizabeth, one of my girls, and when Elizabeth was in the back pressing, Scruffy would sleep in the corner while she worked. Other times she would jump up on the chair next to me and watch me sew. Tiffany decided one day to clean Scruffy with a lot of wet paper towels. She told Scruffy, If youre going to come inside youre going to have to be clean!. Scruffy just sat there while Tif tidied her up and made her presentable. She was just SO happy to be here. Shed sleep in the shop during the days and at night she was left outside. But at night I would worry about her terribly. That Christmas my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I chose Scruffy. Tom was worried that the puppies would not like Scruffy and that was the resistant factor in the quotient. I told him Katie already thought she was a cat (a story for another time:) and Romeo, well, was Romeo and he would adapt and accept. So, Scruffy came home that Christmas six years ago and the Novak family became five. Scruffy settled in and soon became Toms cat (did I mention how much I love my husband, who can be extremely annoying because hes a man but he has this huge propensity for loving animals:). He affectionately renamed her Scruffy La Boeuf. Scruffy thrived in his(and my) care. Scruffy was very vocal. That first meow was the first of many. She would walk down the hall,Meow, meow, meow!!!, roughly translated meant, Where is everyone? or Why arent you petting me? or Wheres my food?. She trained Tom to feed her FIRST, then make his coffee. Scruffy liked to sprawl over his newspaper while he tried to read it. Tom read around her:). Scruffy was a cuddler. She would climb on your lap and want to be scratched behind the ears. We would ask her questions and she would respond. Toms favorite question was, Do you love me more than mommy? to which Scruffy would reply, Meow! with no hesitation. Scruffy ruled the roost. She loved Romy and Katie. She missed them when they passed. She loved the home she was welcomed into after so much adversity. I wonder every day how someone could declaw a cat and then abandon her. I know God led Scruffy to us because He knew we would love her and never abandon her. If you have read this far you must be wondering, all this angst over a cat? Seriously? Well, for me, this is cathartic to jot down my thoughts. Its been three years since we lost Katie, then Romeo and I miss them terribly. And now my Scruff cat. You see one of my traits is to love deeply. I know no other way to do it. If I love you, I will love you with all my heart. For those of you who read this and think that its silly for me to have loved my animals like I do, should stop and think. This is how I love my family. This is how I love my business. This is how I love my friends. This is how I love my God. This is how I love my brides. There is no halfway for Suzanne. For those of you who love animals and have lost one know my sadness. Im glad I watched that movie Heaven is for Real the other night. The part where Colton says, There are lots of animals in heaven give me hope that someday I will be with my beloved pets again. My heart hopes for that and my faith reinforces that it will be so. Have a blessed day filled with sunshine and happiness. Mine will be spent missing my kitty. But thats just me. Jussaying.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 17:16:39 +0000
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