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Thursday, December 01, 2005

No Witch, No Wardrobe

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! I sat up late November 29th to watch my birthday arrive. At exactly midnight, I glanced at the clock on the tv and saw a picture of a lion. THE lion, to be specific, as in an ad for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe (which opens next week, and I am dying to see). I took that as an omen, and a very positive one, since that book, and that lion in particular, has meant a great deal to me since I was very young.

The rest of my birthday after that held up to the omen. I woke up craving tamales, had Taco Bell for breakfast in a (failed) attempt to satisfy that craving, and several hours later listened to my brother sing a twisted version of the Mexican Hat Dance. I got lots of really lovely wishes from some really amazing people. My birthday gift to myself, ordered from Patternworks a few weeks ago, actually arrived in perfect time, so I had this to play with
patternworks
That's four sheep ornaments kits and Santa's Wardrobe kit.

I went to a Mexican restaurant with my husband and my parents, where my parents gave me this
wrapping paperwhich becamebook
(the wrapping paper is a family original. If you look closely, it's in the same handwriting that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny share, and it says "wrapping paper" all over it, with a big "BOW" in the middle. It's quite lovely).

My husband got me a gorgeous floor swift and an electric bobbin winder! YAY! They're both incredible and fabulous and I forgot to take pictures of them. Just picture fibery goodness and we're good.

And the day after my birthday is a very special day indeed. Aslan and Trevor and Oscar had sardines for breakfast in honor of that special day. You, however, get this.

Without further ado, back by popular demand, I give you


~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE STORY OF ASLAN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In 2002, I lived near Buffalo NY and worked at a radio station doing the morning show. I lived on the top floor of a crochety old house, with neighbors in the bottom floor. My birthday happened to fall on Thanksgiving weekend, so my parents flew me down to Baltimore for the weekend. I flew back up on Sunday, December 1st, and ended up driving home from the Buffalo airport in one of the many blizzards of the year. The drive took about three hours longer than I expected, and by the time I was close, there was two feet of snow on the ground. Trusty Norman was quite cranky, and I was no chipper Princess myself. A car ahead of me kicked a rock back, and it cracked my windsheild all the way across.

Exausted, but pushing forward, I called my friend who was babysitting for my two cats Misha and Trevor while I was away to tell him I was close. He was a cat lover as well, and both my two liked him a lot, so I knew he'd want to know if he needed to go back out into the blizzard to check on them again that night.

"Great! Glad to hear you're safe," said Al. "oh, by the way, your neighbors cat was asking to come in, but they weren't answering the door. I let her into your hallway, and put out some of your guys food and water for her."

"Okay, great. Um. Al? My neighbors don't have a cat."

"Yeah, the sweet little white one."

"Nope."

"Oh. Well, then there's a strange cat in your house. Um. Sorry?"

Hmm.

I got home, trudged through the snow, which was nearing three feet in depth by now, and stumbled up the stairs. As I rounded the bend, dark eyes glowed back at me, and a tiny, shivering cat peered out, clearly asking if I could be trusted... and quickly deciding I could. A timid squeak was uttered, and almost immediately the hall echoed with the sound of purrs... It was bittter cold, even inside the hallway (which was probably around 40 degrees F, compared to the 10 degrees outside), but I couldn't let this strange creature into my house when s/he might have deadly parasites. I refilled his food and water, and brought out a blanket and cat bed.

I woke the next morning, checked the food in the bowl in the hall, and went into work, announcing that I'd found a cat, and please call the radio station if you're missing one. No one called.

I called the pound, and told them that I didn't want to give the cat to them if he was going to end up being killed - adult cats are adopted out quite rarely - but if anyone called looking for him, they could contact me. I continued the announcements on the air. One woman did call the station and say she was missing her cat Rosie -the little sweet white girl that Al had found was actually an orange male, but an orange so pale he was almost pink.

Hoping against hope, I picked up the little cat, and nearly dropped him again in shock. This cat hadn't just wandered off before the storm. He should have been between eight and ten pounds, and was closer to three, ribs sticking out painfully through his scraggly hair. His feet, which had been declawed, were bloody and raw. He drooled massively, but offered no resistance when I checked his mouth for wounds and found none. I took him to the woman's face, and watched her face drop when she opened her door. This wasn't her Rosie.

But something had to be done.

I went to the pound and said "whoever lost him either doesn't want him back, or doesn't deserve him. What can I do to make this cat officially mine so they can't come and let this happen to him again?" They knew me from my radio show (celebrity is a good thing) and were able to bend a few rules for me. He still had to be taken into "solitary confinement" where he would be given a vet check and watched for parasites. But I could come visit him as often as I wanted - and I did. It broke my heart to take him to the pound and leave him there - it goes against every fiber of my being. But I was back every day, and he grew to know my footsteps on the stairs at the pound. I had resisted giving him a name until I knew he would be mine, but had been toying around with two, one of which was "Dickens" in honor of the season and the book A Christmas Carroll. But one of the women at the pound said "We just love that little cat of yours, he looks just like a lion," and I knew the other name would be his, the one that I thought would give this sweet, timid little thing some strength and courage, the name of the great and terrible lion from The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Aslan brought a balence to my house I never thought was possible. He left Misha alone, but gave Trevor someone else to play with. He always cuddled when I needed him, but didn't mind hanging out alone either. He had charm, and wit, and character, and an intuition that was almost creepy. When Misha died, less than a year later, he left me alone when I wasn't ready to see any cats. And the second I needed to feel that fur, he crawled into my lap and cried with me. He will stand up to a pitbull who isn't listening to me, and will defend my husband when Trevor gets fiesty.

He was lost, and found me on December 1, 2002. I was lost, and he found me again and again since then. Happy, happy "re-birthday" Aslan.

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12 Comments:

Blogger Marfa's Mewsings said...

Sweets,
What a lovely story about Mr. Man! Altho' I knew it, I LOVED reading it - he's a lucky dude (ditto to the other great manly men in your life ^..^ ) & I'm sure A. knows it.
Here's to a fabulous year. You deserve it.
And love the new beautiful banner.
XOXO

8:59 AM  
Blogger Jen Hagan said...

Belated happy birthday! I'm jealous of the Barbara Walker book (I have just the first, but want them all!). Precious kitty! Thanks for all the beautiful pics. We are kitty-less at the moment, so I have to admire others' felines!
Also, love the banner!

9:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Taco Bell for breakfast! And that book! And the singing!
What a great birthday.
I love the picture of Aslan telling the dog to back up.

10:08 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Thank you for telling Aslan's story. What a brave hearted boy! And yes, the new banner is delightful!

1:03 PM  
Blogger Donna said...

What a beautiful story about a beautiful cat. Aslan and you are so lucky to have each other.

Happy Belated Birthday, Amie.

3:43 PM  
Blogger --Deb said...

SUCH a sweet story!! I just love happy endings. . . (And I loved the Narnia books, too.)

3:52 PM  
Blogger Sue said...

Lovely story. And the new banner looks great!

4:07 PM  
Blogger Rachel said...

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you yesterday that I like the new banner. And the wrapping paper is priceless. I might have to steal that the next time I'm too lazy to giftwrap something. And ohmygod, what a cute picture of Aslan (the first one, though they're all adorable, of course.)

4:39 PM  
Blogger dragon knitter said...

happy birthday to you and aslan. and um, is that neosporin in that last pic?

11:08 PM  
Blogger Shelia said...

Great to hear the Aslan story again. And Taco Bell for breakfast would be my choice for a birthday too, I totally crave Mexican food pretty often. Glad you had such a good birthday!

8:40 AM  
Blogger Alison said...

Happy belated birthday. Thank you for sharing your Aslan story. It was very touching.

10:46 AM  
Blogger yarnahoy said...

what a cut & fuzzy cat! have you ever spun her hair?

11:33 AM  

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