Thank you, Mrs. Erickson.
Dear Mrs. Erickson,
I’m not sure if you remember me but we crossed paths almost 16 years ago for what may have been only 30 minutes. I reached out to you through Craigslist when I was perusing through ads. When I stumbled upon your ad, all it said was “Adorable Black & White Kitten Available for Adoption.”
You see, I wasn’t meant to adopt a cat. In fact, prior to this, I had no interest in cats. I only ever identified myself as a “dog person”. But there I was, staring at your ad and wondering whether I should respond or not. My hesitance wasn’t necessarily because I’ve never had a cat before but more because I didn’t know if my motivation to get one, what led me to looking through cat ads, were for the right reasons.
A few days prior, I was having a conversation with my landlady of 4 years on whether or not she would allow me to get a dog. At this point, we had gotten very close so my landlady knew that I loved dogs and have been asking her for 4 years if I could finally get one. I told her I’d give her an extra deposit. I told her that I would make sure the dog was trained not to bark. Even I knew my attempts at convincing her were futile. She and I both knew that if she had allowed me to get a dog, she would have to allow the rest of the building as well. As she walked away on that particularly beautiful Spring day in Berkeley, she turned around and jokingly said to me, “You can get a cat!” She knew me well enough to know that I didn’t really like cats.
So there I was, a couple days later, looking through ads. Hopelessly trying to find a puppy that looked enough like a cat. And after finding your photo-less ad for a black and white kitty, I stared at it for a bit. “Should I respond?” “Was getting a cat out of spite a wise decision?”
Next thing I knew, I was replying to your ad. I believe what I had said was something along the lines of, “I know nothing about cats. But I love animals and have been thinking about getting a cat for a while now.” Ok, so I admit that that was two truths and a lie. You just didn’t know we were playing the game.
A couple of hours later, you responded simply with, “I can come by tomorrow evening. What’s your address? Here is a picture of her. She’s 4 months old. I would love for you to meet her.”
My heart was pounding as you pulled up onto the driveway. Was I really about to commit to taking care of this living being for years to come? Do I even know how to take care of a cat?
You, a very friendly-faced lady, with long salt and pepper hair, wearing a cat sweater, approached me and said, “Are you Rylan?” I nod. Pointing to the cat carrier in your hand, you continue, “I have your cat right here!”
My cat? I simply laughed it off but you must’ve already knew something I didn’t.
You opened the cat carrier in my living room and out came this tiny black and white fur-ball with the cutest pink nose. She looks around and instantly plops down on the rug and starts cleaning herself.
At this point, you and I both knew that this kitten had found her new home.
For about 20 minutes, you let me play with this little kitten. You probably realized at this point that I didn’t know as much about cats as I led on. Regardless, you seemed satisfied that she felt at home.
You told me how you had rescued this kitten after you found her under one of your buildings. You told me how she had been huddling for warmth (this would soon become a theme for her) with her recently-deceased brother. Their mother was nowhere to be found. She was only a few weeks old at the time. You then spent the next few months bottle feeding her, socializing her, and getting her used to human touch.
I think after hearing this kitten’s story, I would’ve been a monster not to adopt her.
You said your goodbyes to this kitten you’ve been calling “Princess”, handed me a “kitten starter kit” (cat bed, litter box, a bag of food, a box of cat litter, and a few cat toys) from your trunk and her favorite blanket, gave her a couple of kisses and as quickly as you came, you had left.
You must’ve seen the love I instantly had for this little cat because you were so confident in leaving her with me just after a few moments of meeting me.
However, as soon as you left, she hid under my bed. :(
Two days later, she finally emerged and pretty much never left my side.
I named her Oreo Cookie.
For the 15 years following, Cookie would learn to be my best friend, my therapist, my confidant, my roommate, my baby, and my everything.
She quickly turned into a chubby cat who loved to lounge around. Her frequented spots were in between pillows and underneath the covers.
But her favorite spot was always around me. Particularly, on top of my belly.
Ok, maybe she just liked the warmth regardless of where it came from.
Her love affair with the heater did make for some dramatic poses.
And not-so-graceful poses.
Sometimes the sun did ok with her quest for warmth.
But she eventually came running back to her one true love. In her opinion, the purest of all heat sources — her human’s radiant heat.
Aside from her favorite pastime of sleeping by a heat source, she also loved doing things with me.
She loved giving me baths.
She loved bird watching with me.
She could never resist the opportunity to, once and for all, catch that darn red dot.
She loved playing with Snapchat filters with me.
She loved playing hide-n-seek.
She loved hanging out with her cousins, Nutello, Niko, and Bella.
But most of all, she loved spending time with her brother, Milo.
At first, she didn’t really like her new brother when he came home from the shelter, but the minute she realized that she can also use him as a source of heat, she soon *ahem* warmed-up to him. They soon became inseparable and were happy little siblings.
Of course, there were some not-so-pleasant times that Cookie and I weathered together.
She and stairs had a complicated relationship.
And there was that time that I discovered her first flea. (You’ll have to look closely for that flea.)
And subsequently, her first flea bath.
Obviously, she hated it. I gave her a handful of treats as a peace offering. She eventually forgave me. But this would eventually start off an over two-week mission to get rid of the fleas in the apartment. How did they even get to her? She’s an indoor cat and we lived on the third floor?! Needless to say, I never forgot to give her monthly fleas drops ever again.
And then there was that very difficult time where we both had to say goodbye to our beloved Milo. All I could do was to continue to give Cookie big hugs.
But sometimes, she just wanted to be alone to grieve in her own way. She constantly looked around for him and slept in his favorite spot for weeks.
We both missed him very much.
We had lived the past 15 years, doing everything together. We laughed, we cried, we enjoyed string cheese together, we both hated early mornings, we loved a good brushing session, we both hated driving on long road trips. But most importantly, we were a little family.
On October 26th, a beautiful autumn day in San Francisco’s Sunset neighborhood where she spent most of her life, and just a couple months away from her 16th birthday, she finally looked at me and told me that she needed to rest and that it was time.
I cried with her, held her in my arms, and smothered her with kisses in her last moments on this Earth. She was ready to cuddle with her brother Milo again.
I’m reaching out not to put you in a sad mood but instead to thank you. Thank you for rescuing and fostering her. Thank you for being so strong to be able to give her away to me. Thank you for giving her an abundance of love in her formative years so that she would turn into one of the most loving cats. Thank you for taking a chance on me even when I was probably making one of the stupidest impulse decisions of my life to adopt something I had no experience in taking care of. But most of all thank you for making me realize that I would eventually be making one of the best decisions of my life.
She gave me almost 16 years of cuddles, companionship, and unconditional love.
I love and miss her immensely.
Thank you, Mrs. Erickson.
❤️,
Rylan
P.S.
It’s because of you I volunteer so much of my time to animal shelters. I want to make sure I can do for others what you’ve done for me.
