Minnie
"God and Heaven's most Purrfect Angel"
By Heidi

Minnie was the absolute love of my life. Some called her a Torti, as the black hairs on her covered more than just patches, while others insisted she was a Calico, because she was a red cat and she had so much white on her! We compromised and called her a Calico/Torbie with white, and that pleased everyone!

She came to me the day after the Loma Preita earthquake here in California, and at first divided her time between me, the other couple on the property and the landlord. I had never had a cat before so I was in awe of such a sweet creature, and spent many hours talking to her picking out the best food for her and sitting and petting her. Maybe that was why, when she gave birth to four beautiful kittens, she picked ME and my fiancée to bring them to! She was an excellent Mom, too, and nursed the kittens until they were about 6 months old, even after she was spayed! Nights were our special time, and we enjoyed a ritual where we would sit outside and talk. I would tell her of my plans for the future and she would sit and look adoringly at me.

Our happy times ended some months later, as my fiancée and I separated. I moved back in with my Mom, and stupidly left Minnie with him. When his landlord called me about two years later, to tell me she had been left for him to care for, I made plans to bring her home to live with us. By the time the 4th of July, 1992, came, she was finally where she belonged, with my Mom, Mom's Poodle, Schatzi, her daughter, Corkie, and me. Our family was finally whole.

I did make a promise to my Mom, however, that Min would only live in Mom's room for a week (until she got used to all of us and the house), but six years later, (when my Mom died), she was not only still in the room, but sleeping on my Mom's bed! My Mom had grown to love her as much as I did.

When my Mom died, we moved to Rohnert Park, and I discovered Minnie loved to be sung to (especially church hymns). It was for her I bought a church hymnal. The hymns made her so happy she would rub against me and roll and almost turn inside out with happiness. She also loved to play with peacock feathers (she called them Peecateecock feathers). She would hide under the bed while I wiggled the feather, and just when I thought she was ignoring me, she would dash out, jump up in the air, and grab the peacock feather in her paws. This usually bent it and she would give me a look that said "OH oh, It's broke! I need a new one!"

Another of her cutenesses was when I would scratch her butt; she would not only put her butt up in the air but her head also, until her head and tail were touching. She loved it when I told her how cute she was and especially when I told her what a Saint she was!

Minnie and Corkie never got along and she hated to be in the same bedroom with her, so I would spend the first part of the night with Minnie and the second with Corkie. Minnie always knew when it was time for me to go to Corkie and that I would give her extra food to tell her I was sorry. She developed the most endearing habit of waking me when the time came. First she would stare in my face and tickle me with her whiskers, but if that failed to wake me, she would give me the cutest snort-purr while again staring right at my eyes. Finally if I still refused to get up she would put her paws on my forehead, with claws OUT, and gently but firmly put them in my head as if to say "WAKE UP! I'm hungry!"

Needless to say, I would wake up laughing! She did have a redhead's temper, but only with the vet; with me, she was as sweet and kind as the angel she now is!