Sarah's Blog

Monday, August 7, 2006 23:56:03

Tomorrow we put our dear cat, Marilyn, to sleep. I don't talk much about Marilyn because she's my cat from my childhood who lives at my parents house (which is where I am now). She's a grumpy, gray and white puffball... I'll post a picture when I'm home on my own computer. Good girl. Sixteen years old. At first we didn't have a name for her - "Guenevere" (because I was on a King Arthur kick, and I'm not sure I spelled that name correctly), then it was "Marian" because I was also on a Robbin Hood kick, which became "Little Kitty". My mom suggested we call her "L. K." for short and me, being young thought she meant "L.K." as in "L.K. Line" not realizing the man's name was "Al Kaline". Anyway, eventually we settled on Marilyn because my mom loved Marilyn Monroe and this little gray ball of fluff was the prettiest cat in the whole world (and she liked to lie on her back all day).

Marilyn quickly became my cat because Keats, our other cat at the time, hated her even more than he hated me. She and I quickly teamed up as the hunted in the house and pretty soon she was sleeping on my bed (rather on my head) every night. Even though she's the grumpiest cat I've ever known, she loved me when I thought no one else did (yes, silly teen-angst). Her funniest traits: She loved white chedder cheese popcorn, McDonald's French Fries, and Metalica. Seriously, she would come running every time I played Metalica on my stereo or on MTV. Then she'd sit and purr. Not sure what she liked exactly, but Metalica was it.

Marilyn is also the grumpiest cat in the whole world. She growls at everything, hisses, runs and hides, is agoraphobic, and likes to hide in closets. Sweet little Cicero was corrupted by her ways as she hissed and growled at him while he was attempting to make friends (poor little guy kept trying to cuddle up to her and she wanted none of that). A week after they were introduced Cicero hissed a pathetic his for the first time in his life. While this demonstrated the capacity for learning in the "Little Orange Furrball of Death", it also means that Marilyn's legacy lives on in the hiss of "Kitty-Destructo". My husband and I used to also joke that the reason she became such great friends with my dad later in life (after I moved out) was because they had much the same temperment: they both grumple and growl at everything, then usually later end up liking whatever they were grumbling about. (I love you dad!).

Anyway, I have to get up early tomorrow to dig the Grumble-boo's final resting place. I'm going to try to dig in the lilly bed outside my bedroom patio. She always did like looking out that window and liked my room the best out of any. I think she'd be happiest there.

Tuesday, August 1, 2006 10:11:36

Not much going on right now. Back to work. Mike's in Kansas City at the moment, so I'm home with the cats (which includes a very aggressive "pet me! pet me! pet me!" Oberon who I found sleeping in the sink yesterday). Life as usual.