Luca and Moxi

In a few days, these brothers will be eight months old. They came into our lives when they were about 8 weeks old. I saw a post in our neighborhood group about someone offering to give away a cat from their litter for free, and I noticed the litter included a black cat. This was a few weeks before Halloween, and black cats are at risk at that time of year due to the ignorance of some people. Jennifer and Allison went to get the black cat and came home with two of them. The photo I saw showed only one black cat. The litter ended up having two black cats. They brought both brothers home because Jennifer couldn't separate them; they needed to stay together. If you have cats and bring home a new one, you know the turmoil a new cat can cause. Lots of hissing, growling, and some hits by the older cats. This was no different here, except these guys were only weeks old and could not defend themselves. We had to keep a close eye on these brothers.

Things settled down after about a week or so, and our now large cat side of the family was bigger. We now have five cats roaming the house. Except at night, the cat room we built after the flood is nice when you don’t want your sleep interrupted.

At about this time, Jasper – my buddy – was falling ill. As his health declined, he started to distance himself from me. He was always glad to see me, but he jumped into my chair less often. I knew something was wrong. He always wanted to sit with me, usually on my lap while we watched TV. Jasper was my first lap cat. I had always wanted a lap cat, so Jasper, the largest and heaviest cat we had, was my first lap cat. Luca started to climb up into the chair with me; he was too small to jump at that point. Moxi was always off causing havoc somewhere. We would hear something fall somewhere in the house, sometimes accompanied by the sound of glass breaking, and we knew Moxi was the cause. Funny how these two brothers from the same litter, who look almost identical, have such different personalities. Moxi is the troublemaker and explorer, and Luca is the snuggle guy. He loves hanging out with whoever is watching TV.

On March 12th, we made the hardest decision: to put Jasper down. That was a tough day for me and all of us. That afternoon, as I dug his grave, I felt like I was burying my best friend, and I was. Then, a few weeks later, on March 31st, my Dad passed away. March was not a good month for me this year. I stopped writing, which was one of my favorite pastimes. I was asked to write my Dad's obituary. I looked for other obituaries to use as a template. Then I wrote the first draft, but it didn't include the necessary details. I remembered that Dad had written a book about his jobs, which is sold on Amazon. I bought the book and was able to complete writing the obituary with all the details. Although the writing was not enjoyable, I was honored to be asked to write it. Other than writing the obituary, I had written a few things on my book projects. A page on one book one day, a couple of pages on another. But that was it. I could not sit down and concentrate on writing creatively.

This morning, I came up with the idea of writing something about Luca and Moxi. It feels good to sit at my laptop and write creatively. So I'll keep telling you about these crazy cats.

Back to Luca and Moxi; at first glance, the two look identical. I noticed that Luca has a nick in his left ear, which is how I first distinguished the two. Moxi has gold eyes, and Luca has more orange eyes. Allison had bought collars for them, a green one for Moxi and a blue one for Luca. After that, it became easier to tell who was who. As they grew a little more, we noticed Moxi had a small patch of white hair on his belly. That is how the veterinarian distinguished the two when it came time to neuter them.

After Jasper was put down, Vlad started to sit on my lap while we watched TV. I think it was his way of grieving the loss of his buddy. I noticed that Luca began following me around the house as Jasper did. I go to bed early since I get up early for work, so Luca would hang out with me while I watched TV or read a book in bed before falling asleep. I would let him out of the bedroom before I turned off the light.

Someone asked me years ago, 'Of all the pets I have, which one is my favorite?' I responded, ‘the one I was with’. I find it hard not to play favorites with one of the identical cats, but I do really like Luca. I feel bad that I don’t feel the same way about Moxi, but he is his own guy, always exploring. When Moxi gets tired, he will join Luca on my lap for a nap. That is the best of both worlds for me. I love these guys so much! Along with Vlad, Luna, Axle, and Paisley. The one I love most is the one I am with at the time.

If you read this far, I appreciate it!! This is the first writing I have enjoyed in a long time. It's time for me to get back into my writing routine when time permits.