16/1

Over the years, they came in many shapes and sizes.  Some were skinny, some were fat.  Some were long and some were short.  A few were hand picked, but mostly they found their own way to our house.  Their names varied through the years.  The first was 
Phyllis, although Phyllis started out as Phil.  A few weeks into his/her arrival, the folks figured out he was a she.  She was a gift to my oldest sister, Lela, but it was not too long before she became mine.  My cat, my very first cat.  

Then there were Toms, Tommies and Tommy Boys, two Pussycats, Effingham, Bishop, Harrison and Hamilton, Mitten, Max and many Tiggers.  My good friend has made fun of me for having so many cats with the same name, but sometimes it's just the name that fits.

Max showed up the summer after Mother decided to cross over to the other side.  He was no bigger than the palm of my hand.  Due to allergies, all cats had to be outdoor cats and Max was my constant outdoor companion for four years.  One day I went out in the morning to greet him.  A dead squirrel was laying in the yard, the third in almost as many days. Max was hard on the squirrels, he caught them and brought them home for the older male, Tommyboy and Tommyboy would eat them.  But on this day, Max was nowhere to be seen.  Nearly four months later, he was found about four miles out in the country.  I went to get him and although he greeted me with the same familiarity, when I picked him up, he hissed.  I knew then that whatever had happened to him on his journey to this place was not kind.  I made the decision to leave him.  He had a new home, with new people who loved him and he was happy.  Max is 10 years old this year.

Then there's Tigger.  The last Tigger of many.  He too, came uninvited and unwanted by the reigning queen cat of the yard.  She did everything except devour him to try to make him leave, but he somehow held his ground.  When the queen passed on to the place where queen cats go, Tigger was left as sole commander of the yard.

Tigger stayed behind when we made the journey to the rolling hills of the Carolinas.  He had never been a house cat and to turn him loose on the edge of a booming metropolis would have been nothing short of cruel.  Our youngest was staying at the house, so I knew he would be cared for.  

Time moves on and things happen.  The house was empty, again.  I made the decision to have Tigger, this giant, yellow, slobbering ball of fur moved to the country.  This decision alone was one of the hardest I have faced in the last couple of years.  I know, eye rolls, but I have great compassion for animals of all kinds, especially cats.  The yard was the only home he had known and like his predecessor, he rarely left its borders.  

He made the journey to the country and exited the kennel like a bolt of lightening, hiding under the steps that went to the back door.  The next day was Easter and the weather was just about as unpleasant as it could have been.  It rained, sleeted, iced and snowed....along with the wind blowing at breakneck speeds.....and Tigger was gone.

It's hard to put into words how I felt during this time.  I cried a river over this cat.  I would wake in the middle of the night and tell him to go back and then I would cry again.  I would tell him to go south and to not cross the highway.  I cried, a lot.  It finally got to the point where I couldn't even mention the whole thing for fear of blubbering about this cat.  

Sixteen days later, I received a video chat with our daughter who had taken Tigger.  As I walked into view and asked how she was, she replied, "Oh fine.", and turned the camera around to put her youngest son into view.  There he was, our second grandson and in his arms was a giant, yellow, slobbering ball of fur.  Tigger!

Tigger had gone south.  He did not cross the highway, but found a family that knew he was missing and they returned him to his new home.  It took him sixteen days to go a mile and I can only imagine what his journey exposed him to.   At least my visions of him being a coyote's supper are now laid to rest and he seems to understand that this new place is home.