Spring Break has me stretching out the last half of the things people should no about me as much as I can. I'm making myself be okay with far from perfect posts, because it's allowing me to spend more time with my niece, Ainsley, and my best friend, Emily. So moving on to number 8.
8. The cat I prayed for.
I wish I always prayed with the same innocence I had when I was a kid. When I was around 5, I decided I wanted a cat. My parents said not right now. I don't really remember what I thought or felt when they said that, but apparently I thought I needed to take my request higher up. Every night when my parents tucked me in, my mom would say bedtime prayers with my sister and me. After they told me no to a cat, my bedtime prayers went something like this, "Dear God, thank you for today. Thank you for mommy, daddy, and Jessie. Please be with Granny and Papa, Gramy and George. And God, can I please have a cat? Amen."
I'm sure my mom and dad had a good chuckle about my prayer. Eventually, after 6 months of me praying for a cat, my mom told me ever so gently, "Cait, you don't have to keep praying for a cat. We aren't going to get one right now."
As any stubborn 5 year old would, I continued to pray. Again, I don't remember what I thought or felt, but obviously I believed God could override even my parents wishes. My mom and dad must have decided to give up the fight and just let me keep praying. Every night, my prayer was the same, asking God for a cat.
Finally, approximately another 6 months later, my sister and I were outside playing. We live out in the country, and from back in the woods, a cat came walking into our backyard. My parents were outside, too, and saw it. They thought it was probably a distant neighbors' cat out wandering. If he was, he lost his way home. We had Skunk (he was black and white, so naturally I named him Skunk) for 3 more years. He attracted a VERY wild feline to hang out in the woods behind our house, whom I named Midnight Marie. Skunk and Midnight then blessed us with 3 litters of kittens. From those litters we kept Nala, Simba, and Batgirl. Eventually, Batgirl and Simba provided us with Blackie. (I was a very creative pet namer...).
One day Skunk ran away and never returned. My parents told me there was probably some other little girl praying endlessly for a cat and Skunk had to go answer her prayers. They were quick to remind me of all the cats Skunk had given us.
My parents were without a cat for a few years until this past summer. Our neighbors moved leaving behind a cat, who had also been left behind by the previous home owners. The big softy my dad is realized with the house still vacant that the cat had no one to feed it. So he put food out at our house and now my parents are the proud owner of a black and white cat we call Kitty. (We know the original owners called it Cindy, but who names a cat Cindy?). I can't help but wonder if maybe Kitty is a descendant of Skunk. They need to come up with a 23 and Me for pets. Can you imagine those lineages?!
My family looks back and laughs at the story. I appreciate God's sense of humor. Surely He laughed when my mom told me I could stop praying for a cat. I know to this day my mom laughs when she remembers telling me to stop praying. I wish as an adult I had the same stubbornness in my prayers I did as a child.
I loved cats growing up. When I was 4, my sister's friend wrote a story about my cat called Timber (the cat would dive on the pillows and fall off the couch, so we yelled "Tim-Ber"). Later on, we had a stray called Puddin' for the chocolate pudding it looked like was under its lip. Finally, we got Haidyn an orange kitten and called him Macaroni-n-Cheese. He became mean after we fixed him, and he had to move to the farm.
ReplyDeleteI love your prayers for cats. How sweet.
I'm glad you never stopped praying for a cat! I love cats and have had several over the years. We have four right now...Savage, Astrid, Kittay, and Vera. My very first cat I remember having was named Blackberry...she was a black, long-haired cat with golden eyes.
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