Gratitude Journal: Luna

Get ready for the cheesiest and weirdest cat-lady post ever. You knew it was coming. We've had Luna for a year now, she deserves some blog attention.  

My whole life, I have always had a pet. My parents had a dog before I was even born, so the day I came into the world, I instantly had a pet. As a child, I never experienced what it was like to be pet-less. My mom is a lady with a huge heart, so she was constantly bringing home new pets through my growing up years. She instilled that same love for animals in me. Any animal I meet, I instantly love it and want to take it home.

In all honesty, one of the hardest things about leaving home and going to college was not having a pet around. I missed my dogs and kitties at home. As weird as it may sound, it can be a real stress reliever to pet an animal and then tell it all your worries knowing you won't get a lecture in return (yes, I'm crazy). I did buy a fish for my apartment, but let's get real, fish are boring. You can't pet them and you have to clean out their gross bowls.

Shortly after Brian and I got married, we started the pet discussion. He, like me, has a big soft spot for furry creatures. We both grew up having dogs, but realistically, we knew we couldn't handle having a dog at this time in our lives. Dogs need open space and attention. Living in a town home, we don't have much open space. And being full-time students as well as business owners, we don't have a lot of free time to train a dog. We didn't want to worry about coming home to ripped up furniture and shoes. We knew a dog would have to wait. But I came up with a solution.

Get a kitty. They are clean creatures. Easy to potty-train. Fairly independent.

Brian hated the idea. His interaction with cats was limited, and most cats he had experiences with were evil cats. Even though he said no to the kitty idea, I went ahead and did the unthinkable. I brought home a cat.

Before we became Luna's "parents", she belonged to my parents. My parents live in a mountain area where there are tons of mice. So they've always had several cats around to keep the varmints away. My dad actually took one of the good mousers to his tire shop when they started having a mouse problem there. Well, that cat solved the problem at the shop and she managed to have a good time between all the mouse hunting, because she ended up totally pregnant (don't ask me what the difference between just being pregnant and totally pregnant are, because I don't know). When she gave birth to her kitties, my dad took them home for my mom to take care of. All the kitties lived, but one didn't look too hot. She was the runt. The kitties got older and bigger, but the black runt kitty stayed small. The other kitties stole her food and chewed on her ears. She was too small to defend herself. Since the other kitties didn't like her, she decided to follow the dogs around. So while the dogs ran around the lawn, the black runt kitty followed them. When she wasn't pretending to be a dog, she was often alone, in her own little world. Although she was a loner, she was still nice. She loved people. Whenever I went home to visit, the odd runt kitty always grabbed my attention. She was a cutie. She reminded me of Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter because she was so odd, but still content with herself. Because of this, I started calling her Luna. Then one day, I asked my mom if I could take Luna home with me. She said yes.

The first week of having Luna, she won Brian over. It was like she sensed his hatred for cats because she constantly followed him, purred at him, and tried to cuddle with him. He couldn't resist her. And that's how we got our first pet together. Our little Luna.

I know it sounds pathetic, but I am so grateful for Luna. She is such a nice little friend to have. Whenever I am home, she doesn't leave my side. Whether she is cuddled up on my lap while I do homework, or bringing me her toy* to play fetch when I'm watching tv, she's always there to cheer me and Brian up. And sometimes I have these moments of amazement where it seems unreal that there is this living little creature that trusts us to take care of her. She stays alive because she trusts us to keep her that way. Occasionally I can't help but wonder if the runt kitty would still be alive if I hadn't brought her home that day. The Idaho wilderness is a rough place to stay alive as a cat. There are hungry coyotes and highways with speeding cars around. Sometimes I like to tell myself that we saved little Luna, and that she will be around to hiss at our grandchildren as an ornery old feline.

Our family and friends mock us for how much we love our black kitten, and my mom lets me know all the time that I'll forget all about Luna once I have a kid. But we are going to have ourselves a nice little run with just Luna before we take the next step of getting a dog. . .and then the next step of having kiddos. So bear with me family and friends, the #lunagrams will keep coming on Instagram and the concerns of leaving Luna home alone will stay constant, because Luna will forever have the title of "our first pet". She made me and Brian learn to be responsible for keeping another thing alive besides ourselves, and I'm grateful for that.
    

*When I say she plays fetch with her toy, I'm referring to that Christmas stocking in the first picture above. I bought it last Christmas as a joke because I said Luna needed a little stocking too. Turns out she thinks it's the most fun thing ever.