Proactive Love Searches, or How PeriWinkle Got What He Wanted
Since I showed y’all PeriWinkle’s picture yesterday, I remembered a story I wrote about him in my enewsletter *eMAIL to eMATE* almost two years ago, July 1, 2003. The story really captures PeriWinkle personality, and introduces T.J. who has his own story to tell. Peri and T.J.‘s getting together has a lesson for singles, so read to the end.
“Housebreaking a Junk Yard Cat”
It was PeriWinkle’s fault. He did it. We are now a three-cat household.
Blueberry had not been too pleased since we found PeriWinkle, a flea bitten three-week-old kitten, under a Ruby Tuesday in Nashville. Blueberry was perfectly content to be the rather moody, queen-like only cat. She wouldn’t play with PeriWinkle, who is the sweetest kitty you ever met. She would just growl and smack him hard.
So PeriWinkle went out and recruited a friend.
We think that TJ lived under the abandoned trailer across the road. He just started showing up whenever PeriWinkle was outside. They were clearly chums. He was skinny and wiry, all muscle, very talkative, and hungry. He’d eat anything we’d toss or leave out for him. He even figured out how to come in the house at night through the cat door. He’d then clean out the cat dishes, and unfortunately, spray to mark the house as his.
We had no choice in the matter. Or at least it felt that way. We had to tame him and take him to the vet to get a thorough going over and a tiny and significant operation.
It’s a long story and took several weeks, but now TJ has claimed the center of the living room floor. He can’t get enough loving, and knows that being a house cat is The Way To Be. He adores indoor plumbing (i.e. the litter box). And his presence has evened out the cat family, with everyone (including Blueberry) playing together.
Now, why am I writing all this domestic drivel in a newsletter about CyberRomance?
Because PeriWinkle had the right idea: If you want something, like a playmate, go out and find one. Give up trying to get a dead-end relationship to *work.* Do not sit around waiting for someone to come along. Accept that you need what you need, and go about seeing that you get it.
And TJ had the right idea, too: Even if you are a Junk Yard kitty, mistreated, skinny and rag-taggled, you too can find a loving home and a family, if you are willing to take a risk.
