You really want to hear about how cute my Esther is? Because she's pretty darn cute.
I got Esther when I was in college. She was a surprise gift from my pastor and his family. They knew how much I wanted a kitty and now that I was living off campus, a pet was finally an option. I couldn't say no, but I had failed to mention that my roommate was allergic to cats. But I took her home and by the time Heather came back from Ohio where she was visiting family, I was pretty sure I didn't want to let her go again. She was so darn cute that even Heather was willing to take the allergy meds (which turned out to not be needed as much as we thought since she seemed to grow out of her allergy as she got older).
She's never been a big fan of other animals. When Heather decided that she wanted a cat also, Esther wanted nothing to do with her. She took to hiding out in my room as much as possible. When Heather's cat had kittens, Esther's mothering instinct never surfaced. She despised having all those cats around, even though they were tiny and sweet and never did anything to her. If she had to leave my room to get to the kitchen for food, she'd creep down the hall very carefully and then pause when she got by Heather's room and peek in. If any of the kittens were anywhere close by, she'd hiss at them and bolt the rest of the way to the kitchen. Then she'd gobble her food and race back to the safety of my bedroom.
When, I first moved back to Washington, I was worried that Esther would get lonely without me or a roommate at the house, so I found another cat who needed a home and brought him to live with us. They didn't really get along. Max was friendly, but Esther. . . not so much. Eventually, Max and us had to part ways and both cats are much happier for it.
Of course, then there were the dogs. Jade and Esther came to an understanding pretty quickly that as long as Jade left her alone, Esther would tolerate her presence. Lucca never really got the concept and my poor old kitty started having to run for her life and hide in my closet all the time.
Now there are no other animals at the house, so Esther is once again free to roam the house at her own pace. She's very affectionate to me and has taken quite a liking to Jeff (although I'm pretty sure that has a lot to do with him giving him the rest of his tuna every morning after making his lunch for work). She still runs around like a psycho kitty, still seems to have her imaginary friends, and still has quite the "only child" attitude.
And speaking of attitude, my kitty is overflowing with it. She only cuddles with us on her terms, is VERY vocal about whether or not we are giving her the attention she desires or feeding her at the speed she expects. She doesn't like change very much, so when Jeff first moved in and we started changing the layout of the living room, she would blame him and give him the cold shoulder (or perhaps it's more accurate to say "the tail"). If we shut the door to the bedroom and she wants to be in there with us, she makes sure to make her displeasure loud and clear. And she rarely lets us walk past her without some kind of acknowledgement, even if it's to yell at her for attacking our ankles.Thankfully, she's declawed (that's part of the reason why).
Despite the fact that she's almost 13 years old, Esther still loves to run around and play at the house. Jeff and I laugh when we see that her race from the kitchen, thru the living room, and up the stairs as if she's being chased by cat-catchers. We can hear her run around the rooms upstairs as she chases invisible toys. I've seen her in a dead sleep on the couch, suddenly wake up, run to the other end of the room, and drop back into a deep sleep. Bad dream, perhaps?
And that's my baby girl. Or maybe more like my teenage brat girl.
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