The "They Don't Need To Talk...Mental Telepathy Works Just As Well" Story.

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in my lounge chair with my small furry cat, known as The Gray Lady, on my lap.  

The Gray Lady

I believe she suspects that something may be wrong in her household.  Funny how cats can do that.  I am having surgery today to insert a spinal cord stimulator in my back and I am feeling uneasy about it and this sweet cat sitting on my lap for the past couple of hours knows it also.  Every now and again she will kneed me with her soft paws to let me know she is still in my lap.  Carol and I have had a few dogs during our married life, but none were as understanding and loving as the many cats we called our pets.  The Gray Lady showed up at our back door a few years ago and wanted in the door in the worst way, but at the time we had another stray, Snickerdoodle, that we had befriended and was housed in our den at the time.  

The Gray Lady and Snickerdoodle

The Gray Lady just didn't give up and it wasn't long before we opened the back door for her also.  Our two furry friends have totally different personalities with The Gray Lady wanting to sit on your lap all the time while Snickerdoodle would rather find soft places where he can be by himself.  The two have grown up together, but The Gray Lady stopped growing a long time ago while Snickerdoodle has continued to grow.  

The Gray Lady and Snickerdoodle helping me type this story.

Snickerdoodle enjoys our company in the family room, but doesn't enjoy being held, while The Gray Lady "must" be on someone's lap at all times.  The history of cats began about 8,000 years ago when they began hanging around farming communities hoping to feed off mice and rats that were attracted to the farmer's crops.  The humans were glad to have them to help with their rodent problems.  This was said to have been the beginning of domestication...or perhaps semi-domestication.  It is known that dogs offered a full range of helpful abilities over the years to their human handlers, but cats...well, not so much.  

Snickerdoodle

Seems that cats have always tended to do their own thing while dogs helped with the hunting, guarding and herding on the farms.  Dog breeds are mostly 500 years old while cat breeds only emerged within the last half century.  But, today, cats are the most prevalent furry pet in the world.  Cats tend to be eccentric and often mysterious creatures, but for many cat owners, such as Carol and I, that's what makes them more lovable.  I recently read a few quotes from famous people who have cats as their house guests.  A few read like this...

I believe cats to be spirits come to earth.  A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through.   Jules Verne

What greater gift than the love of a cat?     Charles Dickens

If a man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.     Mark Twain

I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.      Jean Cocteau 

A cat has absolute emotional honesty.  Human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.    Ernest Hemingway

If you're feeling bad, just look at the cats, you'll feel better, because they know that everything is, just as it is.  There's nothing to get excited about.  They just know.  They're saviors.   Charles Bukowski

Cats know exactly where they begin and end.  When they walk slowly out the door that you are holding open for them, and pause, leaving their tail just an inch or two inside the door, they know it.  They know you have to keep holding the door open!    Ursula K. Le Guin

In ancient times cats were worshiped as gods.  They have not forgotten this.                  Terry Pratchett

Way down deep, we're all motivated by the same urges.  Cats have the courage to live by them.    Jim Davis, creator of "Garfield"

You can train cats to do anything they want to.  Amen!    Ricky Gervais

OK...someone has their paws on my keyboard, reading what I have just typed.  Not sure if he is happy with what I have written or might want to add a few lines.  Finally...he steps off the keys and walks next to me and licks my face.  I know that he is happy with what I just finished writing.

One final photo of The Gray Lady

He now will try to find the Gray Lady so the two of them can sit at my feet, rubbing against me until I get them lunch.  It's almost as if they can talk.  But, then again, mental telepathy works just as well for them.  "Time for lunch" I tell them as they head to the corner of the kitchen where their water dish sits on the floor as I open the cupboard that reveals their cans of food.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - I know that when I return from my surgery my friends will be waiting to greet me and via for a spot on my lap.  They seem to know just how to cheer me up when I need it the most!