14 Years

 In January, I will have lived in this place 14 years.

That is the longest I've lived anywhere.

I lived with in my parents house 13 years before being shipped off to boarding school.  I can't claim I really lived at home after being shipped off, not for long at a time.  I spent some summers there after that but I didn't really feel like I lived there.

Time has flown by but my life before living here is just a memory blur now.

I like this house.  It's home.  I love it in fact.  Maybe I'll have to leave it someday.  I think of how much I like having a real home and then I think about all the people who lost theirs in just the wildfires in Oregon this summer and realize it could happen to most of us at any time, for all sorts of reasons. So enjoy it, I think to myself.  Enjoy every minute of having a home.

My old cats are my family.   I know I won't have most of them much longer.  14 years I've lived here and Comet came here with me.

Comet

Comet has always been a bully to other cats.  When he was younger, he'd even attack them at their most vulnerable, when using the litter box, just for the heck of it.  He's so old now.  And yet the other day, I heard a yowling contest, and there was Comet in the hallway, standing over and yowling at poor Nemo, who was cowering.  It's all in attitude.  

Comet loved Miss Daisy so much.  After she died he didn't come on the bed at night anymore, not until a few months ago, then he came up again, to be petted and sleep against.me.  Slurpy was the closest to Miss Daisy and she has not come back on the bed at night since Miss Daisy died.

Nemo was such a sweetie when he was younger.  But he went to a home that was a very bad fit, and then was returned months later, a frightened boy.  He used to love to sit on my lap and give me hugs.  But not after the bad home experience.

I knew Nemo would never be adoption material again.   But he loves it here and its his refuge.

Soloman too is ancient.  He and his sister, Panda, are both still alive and kicking although sometimes I wonder how.  Panda has lived with a heart murmur most of her life.

Ancient Soloman

Cougie

Cougie is old too, but loves all the nooks and crannies around here where she can nap.  She is one of those Albany business cats who were supposed to be just fixed and returned but the business wouldn't take them back.  That was a long time ago.  Ten years ago in fact.  Time goes so fast.

Sometimes I think the cats live long lives because they have so many friends.  Shady, Stiletto and Mona Lisa often sleep together on the cat shelf, where they can also watch the world out the window.  But the cats also get a lot of exercise with all the jumps and cat runs and the cat yard.  Maybe that's their secret.  All I know is I love them all.  

I sometimes hear Miss Daisy crying out in delight.  I swear I do.  We all miss her here.  Maybe just maybe she never really left.

Whomever lives in this house next may just have to contend with a very happy loud ghost.  Maybe I'll stay here too after I die and Miss Daisy and I will have a grand old time again playing ghost jokes on the living and howling in delight.