Top Far Left, Clockwise, Kathy, Dave, Crazy Cat Lady, Alison, Kayla, & Alex

Are you one of those people that are at a loss when you visit family and friends for a few days and they are a house without cats? No? Just me? I am completely out of sorts when a house does not have cats. I already feel somewhat un-centered and off-balance without my feline family around me, so I always feel a bit more at ease in a home where I can “borrow” some feline attention. So, you can only imagine how I felt when I got the most amazing gift from my brother Dave, my Sister-in-Law Kathy, and my nieces and nephew, Kayla, Alison, and Alex to come visit them in Pennsylvania to celebrate Kayla’s sweet 16^th birthday in combination with my 50^th (we are true blue Libra’s with our birthdays just a couple days apart) – they flew me up this past weekend and treated me to some special “girl time” – shopping for a Homecoming dress for Kayla (which, by the way, we found the perfect dress and she looks absolutely stunningly gorgeous in it), helping Kayla practice driving (she did awesome) and a Broadway show in NYC with the whole gang– the Addams Family.  Don’t get me wrong – I had a blast and it was incredible seeing the family, but there was not a single cat on the radar.  Sigh… what to do for a cat-a-holic like me?

Well, conveniently for me, I also happen to love dogs (yes my dear cat lovers, I am admitting that dogs have feelings too and are worthy of our love, devotion, and attention, despite them being clearly inferior to the superiority of the feline species). Not only do I love dogs, I have had, until very recently, an endless parade of canine companions in my life, and, although Zee and Zoey have probably deliberately erased this memory from their fuzzy little minds, we had the last of my dog legacy living with me, Bandit, a mixed breed shelter adoption, who we were blessed to have in our family for over 15 years. Zee used to find Bandit’s constant wagging tail a source of amusement for batting at and also appreciated Bandit’s not so “human friendly” odor that he gave off in his old age. For Zoey, Bandit was probably nothing more than mass of fur on the floor. Because Zoey was such a tiny kitten and “frail and helpless” we would be constantly yelling at Bandit to leave her alone, as if number one, he really cared after living with six previous cats in his life, and number two, as if he really had the energy and initiative to chase after her at the age 15.

So, luckily for me, my family has a Shiba Inu dog named Kobe that I was able to unleash my neurotic need for furry attention on to appease my Zee/Zoey withdrawal and I followed Kobe around like a crazed groupie, chasing him endlessly trying to take his picture. Kobe was not anywhere near as thrilled with my attention, what with him getting on in age and finding my antics a bit desperate and overbearing, not to mention exhausting, as he constantly was running from the camera. He found me mildly appealing when I first arrived, but by the end of my stay, he was more than happy to have this cat-crazed lunatic out of his house.

I found the best way to overcome the situation and fulfill my “cat void” was to torture my family (in particular my brother, as payback to all the years he pestered and annoyed me as I was trying to be a “cool” teenager who did not need her younger brother embarrassing her). How to do that? By bringing my bag of cat tricks, of course!

Don’t all of you travel with a bag of cat ears, cat sunglasses, leopard scarves, and furry cat tails? Never mind sensible shoes and a warm jacket – when I packed, that was my main priority to have included in my suitcase! I thought what a better way to get back at my brother, than to make him wear furry cat ears on his receding hairline so that I could take a group family shot of all of us to post for the whole world to see on the blog. Dave, you can thank me later for the fame and notoriety that I have bestowed on your good name and reputation! We ended up having a blast as all of us tried on our costumes (costumes for them, everyday reality for me) for some great candid shots as well as a group family photo that was taken by a next door neighbor, Katie, that Kathy called to help us out. Thank you Katie! I really appreciate you dropping by to help us for all the shenanigans! Thank you also Alison, for having the technical wherewithal as only a teenager can, to help her camera illiterate Aunt to upload all the pictures from the camera and Alex for constantly hooking me up with freshly made coffee.

So, in a round about way, Zee and Zoey actually did go to Pennsylvania with me. I am back home now. The cats are still snubbing and punishing me for leaving them for a few days, despite having Dan with them to take very good care of them. I think I will wait until I am back in their good graces, to break the news to them, that I shared my attention for a few days, with, of all ghastly things, a dog…