Another random day in Guatemala

 I know I have been back for a week and I still haven't posted a non vacation post. It totally amazes me how long it takes you to recover from your vacation. My body is still recovering. I seem to be tired all the time and I just cant seem to get very motivated to do much. But this week I think will be better so I can resume my real life posts. But until then enjoy another post from my vacation complete with more pictures.


OK so at day three in Guatemala here are a few things I have already learned.

1 this city was so not made for people who are super klutzy. All it is cobble stones and dirt roads and huge gigantic holes in the streets and sidewalks, which are already totally unleveled and sometimes so loose that the second you take a step it totally gives out. So if you are not paying even the slightest bit of attention to where you walk you will fall. In the first three days I have already totally fallen over like 6 times I have skinned both knees and torn a hole in my favorite jeans.  I turned both my ankles already and once I fell forward so hard into a wall that I can’t lift my shoulder up above my head with out excruciating pain because I had to brace myself to not fall so unexpectedly.  Oh and if having to watch the crazy pot holed streets wasn’t work enough, then they throw on these crazy iron bars along the sides of  all the buildings and windows, that seriously are perfect head level and seem made for having your head run into. So I have a huge egg on the side of my head from running in to one of them sadly more then once already.  And it’s only been three days, that a pretty good record for even my level of clumsiness.

I hate seeing all the stupid wild dogs around. Ok this one is hard for me because I came here knowing that this is how countries like this view pets and I came expecting that this is what I was going to see. But being in the middle of it all, I just want to cry every time I see one come limping by me. Because I know that in some other place in the world it would have such a different life.  It a strange thing when you see dogs, cattle, and horses on the sides of the road picking apart garbage and eating it. Or when you see a pack of wild dogs turn on each other and attack on f its own because I bet they haven’t eaten in forever and that was the only choice they have.  Oh and yes that is what I ended up seeing today and it was horrible and I never want to see it again.  Its ad knowing that millions of these animals get hit by cars or develop tumors of cancer and never in any of it get to experience what having a real home would be like. I mean I know that I am in the vet field and I know that in the US we do above and beyond for our pets and I know that so many other countries view us as the stupid ones for being this was with animals. But I can’t help but feel a lot of sadness that these poor animals don’t get to dream about having a better life. They just deal with the crappy card they were dealt and that’s all.

How come people don’t die more here either? Ok so seriously I have almost been run over while just walking around on foot. I mean nobody wears a seatbelt and seriously the driving is so insane. Its also seems like the best and easiest way to get around in this town is by motorcycle and you can bet that no one wears a helmet. Heck I see these tiny kids on the back of these bikes weaving crazily through traffic that are so young they can hardly grasp the driver.  No seriously it’s totally insane and I mean I feel like more then once I could easily have been ht by something or seen one of these random kids fall off something and get killed. How come it doesn’t happen more?  I mean in the US people die all the time from not wearing seatbelts and we go out and pass a huge law and spend a million bucks to plaster the country with that lame “click it or ticket” motto. I mean why haven’t people done that here yet? If anyone needs a seatbelt and helmet law its crazy ass central and South American countries. Guess what they are also not wearing a helmet. Oh and also here the women totally carry shit around in huge baskets on the top of their heads. I mean where is my mom when you need her? How come they don’t seem more traumatic neck injuries? Are Guatemalans just born with thicker neck muscles and a better since of balance for motorcycles? Must be.

Not speaking Spanish sucks huge ass, but being with three other people who do speak fluent Spanish sucks ass even more. I mean if it was me by myself I think I would be forced to ask more if they speak English. But since I am surrounded by Spanish speakers, then I feel so retarded having to be the only lame non speaking one, so I try to just make due. But it’s annoying because I don’t know who I should ask for about the translation. I could ask my aunt or her friends that are right here, although if I had been alone I would have just asked the people in the store if they speak English, so I’m torn in which direction I should go. But what I find weird and probably totally unreasonable is that part of me kind of feels like maybe my aunt should speak more in English so that I am not so left out, although I don’t think its fair to think that way either. It’s not her fault that I don’t know anything about the language of the foreign country I chose to come on vacation in.  I guess the thing is this is that stuff I was talking about where I have to start to challenge and push myself. I just have to step out of my comfort zone and be like “habla English?” And if they say “no” then not freak out and not depend on the three women around me who do speak the language to translate for me. But instead just suck it up and figure it out on my own. I will probable get to that point but for now I am timidly breaking out of my aunt’s wing and coming into my own.  Just wait until I am returning home I bet I’ll be a Spanish speaking fool.

This day we took a trip to a cool lake a little bit out of the city and spent a few nights in the town. On the way there we stopped for lunch at this amazing hotel with these huge gardens and birds all around. That's where the pictures are from. It was a awesome place and so pretty.

Grapefruit tree!!

 One of the famous temples we visited  on the way there

Look at this view

The grounds were so pretty

There were birds just loose and chilling all around

You could take a boat out on the lake

Or get in by Helicopter cause it had a heili-pad.

Its so hot I wish I could have swam in this pool.

that's the hotel in its own little lakeside valley

Guatemala day 2

I spent the day today by myself just exploring this city that I have already started to fall in love with even after just being here two days. Well like less then two days more like 36 hours.  It’s so colorful and I love the fact that it still blends old world with new, but you can still tell that everyone is proud of the heritage even if they have moved away from some facets of it. As I started out alone walking in no set direction, I put in my ear buds and for a second felt kind of guilty because I was afraid that this was that typical crappy American “flaunting the wealth” junk that you read about when in poor countries.  I didn’t want people to look down on me or think that I was disrespectful in any way.  But I am so lost without music and my soundtrack to life makes me so much more … Well it makes life so much better for me, so I kept them on and soon realized that ear buds were commonly seen with both the young and older crowd I passed.

The more I started to walk around Antigua I was brought back to a time in my life where I was ready to ditch my life and take a year off to tour the world. This was long before I had made the decision to be a vet tech and enrolling in Bel Rea (the vet tech school) pretty much decided my fate in not going o this trip. At that time in my life I was kind of just floating. I worked hard but didn’t have a real clear direction about who I was and what I wanted to even be someday.  I figured what better way to figure it out then to give up my comfy life and travel. I mean in books and movies all the really life changing events happen when the main character up and abandons their existence and travels. I figured that the same things would happen to me. So anyways I started to work two full time jobs and saved ever spare cent I made, safely tucking it away in cash into the safe in my closet ( yeah I know not a great place but I was young) and after I had about 6000 I started to figure out where I wanted to go. It took a few months to find the company that allows you to just book an open end ticket to anywhere in the world and I happily forked over my deposit. I found places for the cats and turtles to go while I was gone that I knew would acceptably care for them, and I was all set pretty much. I just figured that I needed to have a few more months of hard work to save enough to live on while traveling, but for the most part the rest would just kind of work itself out.   I don’t know exactly what changed my mind. But I remember exactly where I was when it happened. I had always seen these super cheesy commercials about vet tech school on the television, but I have no clue what prompted me to call one day. But I remember requesting info and as soon as this info came in my mail box and I read it, I knew that I was no longer going to go around the world. And that was it; suddenly like that I had some sort of direction.

Why am I bringing this all up right now when should be writing about this super awesome country I am hanging out in on a once in a life time trip? Well because I can’t help but long to be that woman who spent those 12-18 months traveling anywhere and everywhere. I know that I would be so much freer and friendly as I walked around today, and wouldn’t feel so depended on having those ear buds to allow me to not talk to anyone.  I allow myself to stay enclosed in my shell and I know that if I had taken that trip all those years ago I would have chipped that shell down to a very small nubbin which I could no longer hide behind.   Today was one of those days where I truly missed what I could have been, I missed the person I know I would have become, and I wanted to find some way to find her and make her a part of me again.  I know that life is all about challenging yourself, and I know that I do end up doing this all the time, but today I wish that I would have done it a little more. I mean what would I have lost? I am in a different country for Christ sakes and the worst they could say is “stupid American woman,” which heck I would have agreed with if they had ended up saying this. But instead I threw on the I pod and I walked all around this really awesome city in my own world. Really only speaking to people as I ordered lunch, bought water from a small store, or paid admission to get in a ruin or museum. I returned home happy because like I said earlier I found how much I truly love it here but so disappointed that I wasn’t able to just be more for once.

Here are a bunch of random pictures form my day out alone.

Guatemala day 1

Well since I have obviously returned from this vacation its kinda weird to say day 1, but this is what I wrote after that first day being in town.  Because I never did get the chance to go online I was never able to post when in Guatemala so I'm doing it after I have returned home. So I figure that I'll try to post vacation stuff and real time stuff together in the next few weeks. Enjoy

OK so I have officially settled into this city and I have to admit that I do feel a little out of place.  So far I have met a few people and they have all seemed really kind, but it’s a very nice blend of my aunt’s older friends and people who I can’t for the life of me understand… Why didn’t I try to learn a little Spanish in the last few months? Oh yeah I was insanely busy as it was and would never have found the time for that addition.  My airport trip in was insane. I have to basically sprint through the E terminal of the Houston airport and made it with only four minutes to spare.  After 12 hours of traveling and not eating anything I made my way though the long hallway and into customs easily and thought the whole baggage, immigration and customs was a breeze.  I met my aunt who was nice enough to come and meet me even though it was past 10 at night and I’m sure past her bedtime. She said that she doesn’t like to make the drive into Guatemala City from Antigua which is about 40 minutes this time of night but can be hours in the day time. As we were heading back I could see why. Antigua is quietly nestled between three volcanoes and so getting into it requires quite the uphill trek. The roads are crazy curvy and visibilities not great. Between the cars, motorbikes, random wild dog and occasion wild horse along the road you have a high chance of hitting something if you’re not really looking out.  Oh and apparently the chance of crime is high along this same road so if you do hit something or have a breakdown or something you might also get robbed or heck something much worse.

Anyways finally arriving in Antigua and getting all settled in my aunt’s house I crashed out for the night with my whole body aching form the crappy seats on the plans and my legs sore from the sprinting. I slept ok this first night. I always have a hard time sleeping in unfamiliar places or in unfamiliar beds. Sometime during the middle of the night I got freezing which is so surprising cause when I went to be it felt like a very warm oven in my little room. The other thing that woke me up was at some point there was some pretty intense rainfall.  Now I am from Seattle so trust me when I say that I have seen some pretty crazy rain showers. This was like the equivalent of what would fall on a whole stormy day in Seattle, but only falling in a maybe hour long period. It was crazy to say the least. But regardless I was able to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to explore a bit.

My aunt who is also named Martha had been telling me about her friends who are running a dog rescue out of the city. We went with one of them and a whole pack of dogs out to a huge coffee fink. A finka is another word for kind of like a plantation or farm, but a very large farm. I guess the rescue has permission to let the dogs run around on the property and it allows them the chance to burn some energy. It was so pretty, so many plants were there and some was in full bloom so you could smell the sweetness of the coffee flowers as you hiked along.

The Coffee Finka

All Guatemalan coffee is shade grown coffee

 Afterward we headed into town where I was given the grand tour of the rescues home. Its was primitive, but you could tell that the people running it have a ton of passion and are really doing some amazing things with these animals. It’s weird to be in a country where dogs run around so freely. There are these huge packs of dogs that chase cars all over the place. Same with the horses, while driving back we got held up because a wild horse pack didn’t want to leave the road way.

Three of the rescue dogs

After spending time with the dogs, my Aunt and I walked all around the city of Antigua. I love it here; it’s so lush and green. It was a perfect day, sunny but not to hot or humid. All the people we passed were friendly and they have so many types of plants that grow its amazing.  We went to some of the old churches and building in town, some had been rebuilt after earthquakes and some were just still ruins. I loved the sense of culture and history you get from being here. They love intricate stone and wood work in the buildings; they use lots of colored glass and fabrics. It’s very much what I expected, but seeing it in person was so much amazing then I thought it would be. I can see why my aunt loves it here.

One of the churches still in use today

walking around town

This place was so freaking cool. and so detailed.

One of the old ruins in town

in the center of one of these ruins.

After walking around we went to a restaurant for lunch, where ironically I had this super yummy Italian pasta dish. I started to notice that all the building might look unassuming form the outside street but inside they could have these huge courtyards or open air gardens with trees and fountains. This restaurant was like that, it had a huge courtyard with tables and fountains and birds galore, and it was the perfect place for afternoon lunch.  After eating we headed a bit out of town and went to a coffee roasting place and Mayan museum music of sorts.  We took tours and I learned all about the Mayan influences that are still heavily in Guatemala as well as all about the coffee grown here. I will say this that from now on I will forever only buy shade grown Coffee. I kind of had already thought to do that because its killing less habitat to grow, but after knowing about how coffee is harvested here it has just strengthen my desires now.  We then made a drive to another small city where my Aunt also has some property and visited some of her friends out there. Everyone has been very nice to me but maybe that’s because I’m her niece. After a long day of seeing a lot about this city I am exhausted but so excited for the next day.  Tomorrow I have another day in Antigua and I figure maybe I’ll get a chance to head out to the finka with the rescue again and walk some doggies in the morning. Either way I’m expecting it to be as exciting as today was.

One of the places to buy traditional Mayan stuff

at the coffee roasting plant.

Making my own traditions

(This was from the day I left for my trip almost 2 weeks ago... I wrote it in the airport as I was waiting for my very late flight to depart. Over the next few days I will try to post the Guatemala trip blogs I have written but not been able to post due to my lack of internet service while out of the country)

Last week my little sister and I celebrated out one year anniversary. At this point we have made the required time commitment that the big brothers big sisters people asked of us and so we are each able to decided if we want to continue or take the chance to say good bye. I couldn’t imagine saying good bye and walking away from Michaela. I feel like I have worked so hard to get this child from being kind of shy and not talking a lot to being the chatty cant stop her random train of though girl that she is today when we hang out.  I remember back to our very first outing. We went to the park she was really into swings and monkey bars and sometimes she would want me to watch her do stuff or push her or just swing with her. It was a fun day and I instantly knew that she would be a good fit. What I didn’t know is that she was really this totally different little girl someone who is smart, and funny, and independent, and shy, all the things that I have seen in myself before.

Anyways, so yeah one year together now. I so couldn’t imagine my life with out this little girl either its amazing how quick someone becomes a staple for you. We have a match coordinator who checks in with us monthly, and I think so far me and Michaela have made her job fairly easy, because I never seem to have many problems. Well I guess I can’t speak for them, just myself, but I never seem to have many issues. This last phone call she said something that made it seem like maybe Michaela and her mom didn’t want to continue on with the program and have Michaela be my  little any longer.  It was weird this feeling that I instantly got, I was as close to heart broken as I think you can get. But lucky it was just a weird miss understanding and after talking to Lindsay (her mom) we figured out that they want to continue with me just as much as I do them.  I am glad because just the other day when I and Michaela were out at the science center together during her spring break, I told her that I would take her ice skating again at Christmas time. She was so happy  and already super excited even if it is more then half a year away. I told her that I would take her every Christmas as long as she was my little sister. It would be our tradition together.

I was driving home thinking about it and it hit me that right at that moment I had accomplished something so easily that I had been working most of my adult life to achieve. I made something that was my very own tradition. I mean you know that traditions exist and most times they are passed down from your parent’s traditions. It’s sometimes not something that you get to choose but  just how it is or what always happens. When I was a kid my family had a ton of traditions. We spent most holidays with the same group of people. At Christmas time we made gingerbread houses and went ice skating with these same families year after year. We would open presents and have a big family breakfast first, then head over to one family for Christmas eve and another for Christmas dinner.  We always got crappy nuts and oranges in our stockings while my friends got presents and candy and I was always envious. At Easter my dad hid eggs around the house and my mom would do the baskets.  Almost always you could expect to find one of the Easter baskets in the bath tub almost like clock work. Even more predictable you could bet that the chocolate bunny would have its ears bitten off cause my mom couldn’t have resisted.   When I was Michaela’s age I would have just figured that these traditions would go on forever. But they didn’t seem to for me.  My father died and I realized that a lot of the holiday stuff was a result of his effort and planning.  It wasn’t like my mom hated traditions but for some reason she didn’t seem to feel like it was necessary to work hard to keep them going. Or heck maybe it’s just that we grew up and we stopped caring.  And eventually she met someone else  and started to make new traditions with him that didn’t seem to include her kids anymore.

The problem for me isn’t that we abandoned the traditions but that we now can’t seem to find a way to bring them back. We never see the same families for the holidays that I grew up with being a staple for any holiday event. We never go ice skating or make gingerbread houses, even though now we have a few little kids who might thoroughly enjoy it. We never head to an Easter egg hunt and watch the little kids gather candy eggs frantically as I did when I was a child. Heck in my family, we rarely mark a special occasion with a card and if you are lucky enough to get one on time its even less likely..  Maybe it’s the fact that I’m older or that I’m at an age where I could have my own kids, but for some reason this lack of tradition has really bothered me the last few years it like I find myself really missing them and like I said seeking people and things to incorporate into my like on a regular basis.   That’s why I am so glad to be able to have the chance to start one of my very own with some one who is special to me.  And I’m excited to be able to put the same kind of time and effort into this tradition as my father did for the ones we had growing up. Because I want Michaela to look back and remember how every year she got to go ice skating for Christmas and heck maybe someday she can be telling her own children about  how the tradition got started.
 

babies babies babies!!

I have taken on an extra shift at the wild life place doing Sunday nights now as well as Tuesdays. I am really finding that doing this kind of of work is so rewarding.  I have a little bit of a break today and then I start to house sit again tomorrow at one of my very good client’s house for their disabled dog.  I am enjoying the afternoon being back in my own house and hanging out with my own animals.

 Its spring time at the wild life center. How can I tell you ask? Well it’s defiantly not because of the lovely spring days we have had. Or in Seattle’s case not had. I can tell because these last few weeks we have had an influx of baby animals arrive.  I love when the babies come even if it is a ton more work. Most of these little guys need to get fed every few hours and feeding them can take a while. Some of the animals get tube fed so you have to get a tube down into their stomachs and feed them that way. The baby ducks and geese get tube fed as do the raccoons and possums. Squirrels get syringe fed but they are pretty feisty so sometimes it’s a challenge to get them to take it. It’s nice to be able to step into the role of mom even if it is just for that 10 minutes period as these little guys eat. Baby birds are by far the most time consuming. They have to be fed every 30 minutes and you have to both tube feed and drop feed them so if you get stuck in the baby bird nursery you don’t ever get to leave.   But it’s ok because that why we are all there right? To help, save and protect wildlife even the tiny little babies that come in.

So today we have 28 baby squirrels in various stages of life a few still don’t have their eyes open while others are totally weaned and doing find on their own.  We have 10 baby mallard ducks. They are hanging out in two different groups and both still need to be tubed every 6 hours but hopefully they will be weaned soon. We have one baby Canadian goose who was just found alone in a nest. He is so cute and kind of sad that he is by him self. Well all the ducks have feather dusters because it helps them think that they have a mom figure with them. This little guy or gal is very depressed and they are not sure what to do with it cause it would be better if they could get it a friend.  We have 6 baby opossums also in all sorts of different life stages. One little guy is totally naked and pink because it’s so young. We don’t know if he is going to survive but we are all pulling for him. He was found in a dead moms pouch because someone was walking their dog and says some very fait movement on a hit by car and very dead opossums early yesterday morning.  We also have 9 baby raccoons I by far think these are the cutest but man are they not very happy they scream bloody murder the second you try to pry their little mouths open for the tube feeding.  When three people are doing it at the same time it’s an insanely horrific noise.  Finally we have 12 baby bunnies all different kinds and ages.  Baby bunnies are tricky because the stress alone can kill them so you have to be very very quiet and careful.

Anyways like you can tell lots of babies today, all these babies and a whole center full of the normal fare that comes in. In sad news we had to put down an adult raccoon this morning because it tested positive for distemper. Its weird for me cause in the world of dog and cat medicine distemper isn’t very common cause we vaccinate for it but in wild lots of stuff has it and dies from it. This poor guy was in pretty bad shape so it was nice that he didn’t have to suffer any longer.  It was sad though because he had been hanging out at this one house most of the time and the homeowners had grown pretty attached to the guy. They were who brought him in because they had started to see that he was sowing signs of being sick.   They didn’t know that it was as serious as it turned out to be but and they were sad that he couldn’t be helped. But unfortunately life is like that you can’t save everything even if you want to.

I miss my dog

Its weird like some days I'll just be sitting here and suddenly like a huge wave I miss my little dog Bandit. I mean its been almost two years since I have put him to sleep, but I still get hit with these moments of grief. He was really the perfect dog, well almost, he was kinda a shit honestly, but none the less defiantly one of a kind all the way.  I have been trying to get my computer cleared out a little so that I will have some space for my vacation pictures to get stored and I came across this that I must have written a few days after I put him down. I thought I would share it here.  I haven't been around very much lately because I have been house sitting at a families house out in Queen Ann with no internet connection so that's why I have had such a delay in my posts recently. I feeling very displaced with out having my house to come back to and hang out in. Anyways enjoy.

My ode to the best dog in the world.

You may have been skin and bones but you had the biggest heart in the world… And apparently stomach.

I wont miss having to chase your around the street until I am so frustrated that I am cursing you to the heavens and wishing you the best of luck at your new home.

I will miss hearing your tags jingle as you walk around the house. Because now you have to wear your leash 24/7

I won’t miss all the puking especially when it a abnormally large amounts of acorns

I will miss having to pry some sort of dead bird or frozen squirrel out of your locked growling jaws in the middle of the street. As someone is staring at me in such a comical fashion,  you can’t help but laugh.

I won’t miss having to deal with angry dog park goers, crazy neighbors and concerned animal control agents.

 I will miss the way you come and instantly want to sit on my lap and give me kisses.   Or that your favorite spot is somewhere touching me.

I won’t miss all the times I had to stop you from eating some sort of thing you pried up off the street or found on the beach or in the bushes at the park, or anywhere your ability to find something dead amazes me.

 I’ll miss the way you light up a room with you cuteness, your head tilt and your wagging tail.  Or how kids love you and you love them right back.

 I won’t miss how taking a walk mean you get to vacuum the street with your mouth, or worrying about you eating slugs at night.

I will miss coming home every day to a dog who loves me so unconditionally much. Who really has changed my life every year he’s been alive for the better.

I love you,  I miss you, and  I will always remember you forever. I hope that in heaven your able to eat all the dead shit you want. 

RIP Bandit.

My first pet.

I wasn’t always a dog person, I mostly considered myself a cat person growing up, I guess because I grew up always wanting to get a cat.  It wasn’t like I never had a pet or anything, but I guess I never felt like I had my own pet.  We had Mr. Moot, this mutt dog that my mom found outside her work long before me or my older brother was a thought in her mind.  He was put sleep, I don’t really remember much about it, but I do know it was sad. He was also super crazy and would like go all insaner every time you walked in the door. Then there was Heidi, who was a great dog and around for a lot of my life growing up, enough so that some people close to me would feel that Heidi should get her own page on this blog. But the problem was Heidi was my mom’s dog all the way.  She didn’t help to shape who I am. The pet where I would start with and who has shaped who I am today, becoming this person who has all these animals that I consider my family, was Taffy.  Taffy was my very first pet I had that was my very own.

I remember being this 8 year old kid and somehow thinking that having a cat would be the best thing in the world. I have the appropriate amount of fish that every kid should. We had a family dog that died of old age and even got another one afterward to replace him.  I don’t know what it was about having a cat that made my desire so strong. Was it the desire to have something that was mine not the families? Or was it that even at 8 I knew something special about the feline species.  Whichever one I remember that I asked both my parents about the cat. And both told me no. This was devastating to my 8 year old heart. But I was never one to back away from a challenge and slowly started working them hoping for victory.  I think that somewhere along the line I had to prove that I was responsible. I’m sure I had to do extra chores or something. I really don’t know anymore its so irrelevant how the process took place.  I just remember the end result.

I can still see the day when I asked my mom “can I have a cat mom” this must have been a fairly regular question I asked usually met with   a “maybe” or “someday” but this day was different.  I guess something must have made them think I was responsible enough because she answered with a very non chalant. “As long as it was ok with your dad” I waited and waited and waited all afternoon for him to come home and ran out to meet in the walk up to the porch. Can I have a cat dad? I asked for the 100th time in that year. “As long as it’s ok with you mom it’s ok with me” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  It was almost too much for my brain to process.  Both of them said ok!! I think I was stunned for a few seconds and then I realized that I was able to get my cat!!  VICTORY!!!

 Unfortunately what I didn’t know then was that getting the ok was just the first step in getting a cat. Where as most families might head to the local pound and pick out a cat. My family now entered into the research phase of getting a cat.  Some of you might not have a clue what I am talking about but its pretty self explanatory. We have to research cats, and cat breeds, and cat toys, and colors, and pretty much everything cat. This is going to tell us what cat will be best for our family. This was also what my 8 year old self liked to call torture. I just wanted a cat, any cat. I mean the neighbors had kittens they were giving away and I was suddenly not able to get one.   It was confusing because I was thinking that victory was mine. At 8 I didn’t realize what I now know and that that my family likes to research every little decision ever made, sometimes excessively research. So during the research phase I started going to cat shows. I started talking to people about there cats, what the personalities were for each different breed, all the good, the bad, and the in between.  I got this huge cat breed book that I read all the time committing the facts about every breed to memory. And finally narrowing it down to the very unusual Russian Blue or the very elusive Japanese bobtail. Why these I’m not entirely sure anymore. But finally after months and months we (my parents and I) deiced on the Japanese bobtail.

We had met this woman who showed JB’s (Japanese bobtails in case you didn’t figure out.) She was super nice to me, always answered my questions, let me touch her cats, and never seemed to mind this weird kid being her shadow. She knew of some people who breed JB kittens. I think that was how we ended up at Taffy’ house.  I couldn’t tell you where the house was just that it took like an hour to get there. I remember pulling up and knocking on the door. I remember that the guy who answered as wearing red. I remember that there a few kittens to choose from and that I “wasn’t supposed to get my heart set cause we were just looking”. By this point we had seen many a cat and had still not found our cat, so I did take that advice to heart. But this was the first time we were looking at JB kittens, so I was hoping that this would be it. All this research had just made the desire for me to get a cat even greater. Anyways so here we are at this house, I think my mom is asking the appropriate questions, I was playing with the kittens, and this one little orange girl came and curled up in my lap and took a nap.  I was hooked and instantly knew I wanted her sooooo bad. I know that in true parent’s fashion, we had to go and talk about it in the car.  We excused ourselves and went to go sit in my moms little red Subaru as she put her keys in the ignition, I know that she shouldn’t have and even said something about remembering to take them when we left.  We talked, I couldn’t tell you anything about the conversation except that it ended with us deciding to take orange kitten… I was so excited that this was going to be my kitten! We did all the payment stuff and got her all boxed up, then went out to the car and Oh No… like I expected my mom locked the keys in the car.  We had to call my dad to come and open the car for us all the while hanging out at these peoples house waiting for like two hours. You can imagine how anxious I was to just get this kitten home.   Finally he came opened the car and off we were.   My kitten was finally coming home.

Well the first few days were a whirlwind. I had some problems adjusting to not sleeping because the kitten would attack my feet all night.  I had to keep her in my room exclusively for the first few weeks and I remember she wasn’t always great about using the litter box.  She had to learn not to claw the furniture or us. At some point I’m not sure exactly when or why but orange kitten became Taffy.  Taffy was a pretty mellow cat in whole. Even though she was a kitten and had her crazy kitten moments, for the most part she just liked to lie around in a sun beam. She adjusted well to the dog, and the family.  I wanted to show her since I had gotten sucked into the world of cat shows doing all that research stuff.   She was pretty good at it and won a lot of the time. I think looking back a lot of those wins were due to her being an unusual breed that not a lot of people have around, so she won a lot by default I think. Regardless of the reason she got enough points to be considered a grand champion so at this point in her career we stopped showing her and got her fixed.

 She always seemed to gravitate to my father. I think it was because he was this mellow laid back person who is content to just sit in a chair reading or watching TV and Taffy enjoyed that lethargy. I remember a lot of moments where the two of them would have secret pet sessions when he didn’t think I was watching.  Taffy was my pride and joy, even at that young age she was all mine and for that I was so proud.  When we moved and I started having a hard time adjusting to the kids in my new school, I turned to taffy to be my companion and entertainment.  She was my whole world and to a 10 year old that’s a big thing.  When Taffy died I still remember the exact place I was when my mom told me.  I remember breaking into tears and feeling so awful and like life would be over. She was only like two years old, if even that old, and I remember hearing that the vet had offered to do an autopsy and learned that she had a lot of issues with her body. She had a low white blood cell count, something wrong with her kidneys, and maybe even a small heart. She was so mellow because her body was so messed up that all she could do was lie around and be lazy. 

We buried Taffy in the front yard, under this huge rock, and planted some daffodils over her. Every year those flowers came up and I would think about her. I got another cat  a year or two later and he ended up living until the old age of 19, helping to make up for the sudden death of her processor.  It’s weird that even today I think about Taffy frequently. I never really understood why I wanted a cat when I was young.  But now that I have my three cat children, and even though they sometimes drive me nuts sometimes, I am so thankful they are around. They have Taffy to thank for that I think.