Friday, December 24, 2010

Best Christmas Ever!

I had the best Christmas Eve ever I think. Jim and Jane from Corvallis, who adopted Whisper Willow from Spicer Drive and two of Mom of Machi's girls, from the Lebanon trailer park, arrived with cat food this morning. They also brought some other food, like spaghetti sauce and noodles, chips, dried mangos, some socks, and some sandals, the Velcro fastening kind Jane got for herself but they didn't work for her. They sure work for me.

I wore them then, to the movie they took me to, in Corvallis. True Grit. It was a great remake of the old classic. Jeff Bridges was born to play Rooster Cogburn, the grumpy soggy old curmudgeon bounty hunter.

It was really a warm feeling, just to be invited, included, to go with someone, to a movie. It was wonderful.

They returned me to Albany. I had chores to run. I had received a notice of a package at the Post Office. I went down, only to find it had closed today at noon.

After all this, as if this wasn't a great enough day already, I had a party to attend. The Mormon sisters called me last night to invite me to their home. I've always called them that, the Mormon sisters, and they don't seem to mind. They're Mormons and they're sisters, so the nickname works.

I know the Mormon sisters from way back, all through cats, first in Jefferson, then in two different Albany houses where they lived. They own a house now. I love those sisters like my own family even though we really don't see one another often. In fact, it's been a long time since we spent much time conversing and when we do, most of the time it's laughing and joking.

Tonight was no different. Lots of laughing. Another of their sisters was there, with her husband and one son, now a dentist. And their mother was there. We had a blast, ate some great food, potato tortillas, but there's a Swedish name for them, which I cannot remember. Luftsa? Probably not.

I conked out quickly, being worn out, from yesterday's trauma and my cold, while the rest put on hats that play Christmas carols while the pointed top dances around. I was groggy with sleep, flopped over on the couch with the pleasant background of family chatter, of who did this or went there, of recalling memories of Christmas past and old movies watched.

Later, once awake again, I put on one of these dancing singing Santa hats myself, to much laughter. They had party glasses, made of paper, each with different lenses, the sisters got once, some time ago, at Jerrys. The glasses, when you put them on and look through the plastic lens, turn lights into, for one thing, snowmen. Another pair turned any lights into angels with trumpets. There were six different pair to try on.

We were going to play games too, but I was about to drop on my feet. They even had a gift sack for me, full of such things as a Hostess Lemon Fruit Pie, a Mountain House freeze dried ice cream bar and Bacon flavored tooth picks! I'm going to put that freeze dried ice cream bar under the seat of my car (in case of emergency). Ha! I told the sisters they should become party planners.

I had a great Christmas Eve. I've had a great Christmas. I've got a few lights up. I have my card pole again. I love this time of year.

I am now set for shoes. Thanks to a complete stranger who sent me an e-certificate from Zappos. I tried several pair, of varying sizes. Some were too small, some too big. Then I got this pair of very wonderful boot shoes, like hiking tennis shoes, sort of. Beautiful and well made. I kept them here trying them out, not sure if they would work or not and now I've settled into them and love them and they like my feet too. They're unbelievable! It's great to have a pair of shoes that fit and are in good shape.

Not only that, but an old friend, one I haven't seen in years, who adopted Samson from me, years ago, sent me a box of goodies, including some slippers that are so cozy to my feet. Samson is no longer with her. She split with her man and her man took Samson with him, because he loved Samson, a handsome Siamese. Samson was one of 27 cats I removed from a horrid trailer in Lebanon. There were piles of cat shit three feet deep in places, and just going into that trailer would make ones face start to sting from ammonia. One night, before I had to have surgery on my abdomen, for large cysts, and it was unknown if they were cancer or not, I went over there and shoveled out the largest pile of cat shit, encasing the legs of chairs and the wires of a stereo blasting Christian rock music. The trailer's occupant, a seriously mentally ill man, stood behind me, not helping, but preaching the word of god. I knew nobody else was going to do that for him, and I was worried I might have cancer or die in surgery, so this was the time to get that done.

It was worth it. I burned my clothes and shoes afterwards. Later, the Mormon sisters became inexplicitly linked to the nurse who adopted Samson. They had moved to Albany and wanted me to come see a stray they were feeding. Low and behold it was Shyly, another of the Lebanon collector cats, a hairy shy sweet Himilayan female. She was adopted, once out of that trailer, to a young couple, who lived next door. Only then, the Mormon sisters didn't live next to the young couple. They lived in Jefferson. But then moved to Albany.

The young couple got divorced and abandoned Shyly. The new neighbors, the Mormon sisters, took to feeding her. I took Shyly back in. Later on, she got a home in Arizona but I had no way to get her there. Samson's owner, the nurse, had a father living in Arizona she was about to visit. She volunteered to transport Shyly, in style, in the cabin, to her new Arizona home. Sometimes things seem like more than coincidence. Samson and Shyly are old cats now.

That nurse and I became friends. So now, this Christmas, she sent me slippers for my feet.

And I have the Jane sandals now too, that are super! I love them.

I'm set for shoes, and all, ultimately, because of cats. How's that for a story!

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