From the moment I met Lucy, I knew there was no way we would ever be friends. She glared at me with her bright green eyes and wagged her fluffy tail every time I got near her. After Jed and I got married and I moved in with him, things didn’t get any better. I can walk across her path unintentionally and she hisses and growls and bats her little paws at me. If I try to pick her up (which is only in emergency situations like trying to get her out of my room), she turns into a screaming set of claws determined to tear me to pieces. I do admit that I haven’t really tried to help our relationship by being particularly nice, but really, she started it, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s just a little jealous of me.
As long as I’ve known him, Jed has sung the praises of this cat, saying she’s the prettiest cat in the whole world (and she is pretty, with long, shiny black fur and white boots and markings), and super smart, and altogether wonderful. Before I’m accused of being jealous of his admiration for his kitty, let me just say that she’s really not very nice to him either. She puts up with him whenever he picks her up, but looks miserable the whole time and will eventually growl and hiss to be put down. The only time she’s ever nice to him is when he feeds her, and she’ll do whatever he asks then. She even sits when commanded.
The other day, after Jed and I had a long discussion about all of our misunderstandings of the past couple of weeks (most of which were me misunderstanding him), we sat on the couch watching Lucy slink through the living room. She literally slinks. Most cats walk around with their tails held high, but I’ve had yet to see Lucy do this. I commented on this to Jed, and he responded that that’s one of the things he likes about her because it proves that she’s not like other cats. He then launched into his usual spiel explaining how wonderful she was and how she knows the word crate and will sit when asked and can probably speak English if she wanted to. After a minute, his attitude changed from his usual playful and slightly antagonizing tone as he began to tell the story of how he got Lucy.
His mom used to hate cats apparently (you wouldn’t know it now), but Jed always thought they were adorable. He managed at one time to convince her to let him have one. The one condition was that he would have to keep it in a rabbit cage outside. He, understandably, chose not to get one at that time. One day, some time later, he was visiting some friends in Farmington who always had kittens to give away. The litter was made up of almost all tabbies, except for a tiny black kitty that was sitting a little apart from the rest and mewing at him as he watched her. He picked her up, and was almost immediately attached to her. She purred and mewed happily in his arms, and he decided that he had to keep her. So, he took her home. Before his mom came home that day, he made a plan to put Lucy up on his shoulder and prayed that his mom would see how adorable she was and wouldn’t make him put her outside. When Jed’s mom saw her sitting there purring and licking Jed’s face, she exclaimed, “What a cute little kitten!” and Lucy was never put in a rabbit cage.
As she grew up, she remained a loyal kitty and followed Jed around constantly. She was, from what Jed says, a happy and sweet kitty, and he took care of her to the best of his ability. He called around for the best vet when she was sick and made sure she took her medicine. Then he moved out of his parents’ house. He took her with him as he moved around town, but he said she started to change a little. When he lived with some friends who had a dog, Lucy decided she no longer needed to use a litter box. She started getting crankier then, though she continued to be loyal and sweet to Jed. She finally lost it when he moved to the middle east for a year and a half. He forgot to tell her goodbye before he left, and his mom said she sat at the door for days waiting for him to come home.
When he finally did come home, she wouldn’t look at him for days. It’s taken her a very long time to adjust to him being home. Even now, as I said before, she tolerates him, but she isn’t the same sweet kitty that he brought home from a friend’s house 4 years ago. Yet Jed still sings her praises and loves her dearly. He said he believes if he just keeps being nice to her and saying nice things about her, she might just turn back into that nice, sweet kitty that he used to have.
As he told this story, I couldn’t help but think how fortunate I was to be chosen and pursued by such a loyal man. That sounds awfully sappy, but oh well. And before I’m misunderstood, I don’t mean I’m lucky because I get to get away with acting like a witch like Lucy. But, as I consider the vows Jed and I made 4 weeks ago today, and the current divorce rate, I feel God’s blessing on my life through Jed and am confident that til death do us part, we’ll be together.
