Alright, recently I have kind of taken the blog into all sorts of directions and I would like to get back on track to start bringing you into the process of the “how’s” and “why’s” the book “The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey – a Journey of the Extraordinarily Ordinary” began. I will delve a bit deeper into the personalities of Zee, then Zoey, and then we will start chatting about how the book came about. 

In Chapter Two of the Chronicles, the first sentence states, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And then Zee. At least that’s how the story goes at our house.” I think you get the idea pretty quickly what Zee means to our household!

Zee is a purebred Maine Coon cat, classic brown tabby colorings, who was born on 9/7/2005.  He is named after his father, the infamous “Zeeba” of which at the time was earmarked as the largest registered male Maine Coon in the United States at 35 pounds.  Zee does not come even remotely close to the weight of his father, but makes up for it in personality and love.  For those of you familiar with the breed, you know firsthand what a joy they are to have in your household.  Loyal, devoted, friendly, playful, talkative, and sensitive are just a few adjectives I would use to describe this wonderful breed.

Zee started out as a gift from me to Dan and they share a very special bond to this day.  Zee as a kitten was very curious and into the thick of everything without a hint of fear – we were renovating our house at the time we got him and nothing fazed him – jackhammers, drills, saws – he wanted to be a part of all of it and was happiest watching from on top of a ladder. Much to our disappointment, he was not a lap cat and we didn’t get much cuddling time with him. He got along very well with our other family members – Bandit our mixed breed dog, Kit our tabby, Jazz our Ragdoll, Harley our Tortie and had an enormous amount of energy.

He enjoyed wrestling with Jazz, in particular, and soon started to develop quite an aggressive streak and that is when he was introduced into the world of “time-outs” and would be sent to the bedroom for bad behavior, which is also a pivotal chapter in the book. We soon realized that he was in need of a younger playmate, as Jazz was getting up in age and was getting tired of Zee’s non-stop antics. Kit was far too frail to play (she was 18 years old at the time) and Bandit just preferred not to be a dog and had no desire to chase foolish cats at this point in his old life. We knew Kit would not be with us much longer and it was eventually decided after her passing on, that we absolutely had to have a Bengal kitten, what with me being obsessed with leopards my whole life, and just like that, Zoey entered Zee’s unsuspecting life.

Zee fell instantly, head-over-heels in love with her and all of his bad behavior vanished as he spent every living moment trying to impress and woo his “sweet” Zoey.  The relationship began as playmates and quickly progressed to a more “romantic” and mature stage – viola – 3 months later, catnip cigar in paw, Zee was the father of four squirmy, squealing little kittens that he wanted absolutely NO part of.

A neutering later, as time went on, our “little” Zee has matured into quite the cat.  He is clearly beautiful, but he is also kind, loving, gentle, and completely devoted to his babies, of which we kept three – Mia, Peanut, and Rolz. He is still very much in love with Zoey and has settled into a quiet and content life.  Now that he is a responsible father and a mature role model, we finally get bedtime cuddle time with him, which is such a treat. He truly is a joy and my life is all the better for having him a part of it.