I remember ten years ago, my little one brought home her tuxedo kitten, not in a box but wrapped up in a towel sitting on her lap on the drive home. She clung to him and squeezed him so tight as a kitten, I thought for sure she was going to hurt him or he would scratch her.

She decided to call him Night Light and we all thought he was deaf because he didn’t seem to respond to noise.  Either his hearing came back or she magically taught him to listen because about three or four weeks later, he was responding to her whistle.  He still does.

Every time he left her side, she scooped him up and trained him to be with her every second of the day when she was home from school or on weekends.  She taught him how to jump up to her top bunk, to stay and sleep with her and she practiced relentlessly with him until it became his custom to always be with her.  Night Light was her cat.

I remember one night he escaped outside and I searched and prayed and cried till he re appeared miraculously and I was so relieved because she had not woken up yet and had no idea of the drama.  It would have devastated her to lose that cat.

When she spent the night at someone’s house her cat would whine and search for her all night long and no one slept.  He has slept on her bed for years right next to her always.  He responds and seems to protect her like a well-trained dog, not a cat.

On Monday night, E called home from college for the first time since she moved out.  We put her on speakerphone and Night Light came from I don’t know where and started meowing into the phone.  He nuzzled the phone and kept meowing into it.  It was adorable, heartbreaking and heartwarming. Night Light is still her cat.

We all miss E but when her cat recognized her voice, tried to communicate and plead with her, I really felt her absence.

We are giving him extra love and attention.  In fact, all three of our cats are now our babies.  I remember our first cat named Dash was our baby until we had our son. Twenty three years ago, our cat became our cat and our son was now our real baby.    We have reverted of late to calling and treating our feline friends like our babies again.

Until the “real” babies come home for a visit anyway.

 Night Light relaxing, luxuriating and waiting.