The Food Bowl

My pets always find me. I have never bought one or looked for one. It was the same with "Shoo". She found us as a four month old stray. When she died this past Spring, I left her food bowl out. It was just something I wasn't ready to put away.

I knew that eventually I would need to put it away but in someway it has stayed in place as an homage to her. My cat loved to eat! We found that she loved lunch meat, tuna and she loved milk. She also had this liking to olive juice! She was insane for it. We wouldn't give her these goodies all of the time. On that special weekday lunch or that Tuesday night when no one else was looking...these were the times she would get rewarded for just being a great cat.

Recently, our next door neighbor got a new kitten. The kitten's name is "Sparks". He is hilarious, spunky and full of energy. Everything a little new kitten needs to be. We are the only neighbor that doesn't have a cat so Sparks has claimed our place for his afternoon naps. We keep the door cracked most weekend days. Sparks sneaks in and finds himself a spot under the coffee table or even recently curled up in a ball. After his nap, he will go into the kitchen and visit our cat's food bowl. Each visit this new kitten is gently removing a small amount of food from Shoo's bowl. I can't help but smile when I hear the "Crunch!" "Crunch!" coming from my kitchen corner. This little new visitor has not only given us new laughter and joy but is helping us with our healing process of cleaning out the cat bowl. I have always said that pets find us and they do!

-Fer