Olive Loves Me

You used to be a dog person.  And then, slowly, you started to admit to loving cats.  Eventually it was a no holds barred love.  The problem was, two of your cats were so crazy and neurotic that they wouldn't even let you pet them.  Your third cat, Mini, gave you lots of attention and you loved her for this.  I always chuckle when I remember you saying that we needed to rename her Maxi because she was getting chubby.  Or when I would come home to Port Jeff and say hi to her and you would refer to me (in her voice) as "the beast from the city."  You had voices for all the animals through the years.

When I went to Asia for a month last year, I left my cat Olive at your house.  Olive is difficult, to say the least.  She's unpredictable and has been known to assault people unprovoked.  I love her, but she's a bit of an acquired taste.  So I was VERY surprised when I got an email from you when I was in Vietnam saying "Olive loves me!".  You also said you were keeping her.  I couldn't believe this cat who hissed, scratched, and bit pretty much anyone who wasn't me had wormed her way into your heart.  Apparently she was a new woman out there in her country house, and she showed you great affection (something you valued greatly since 2 of the 3 of your own cats were so elusive).

The next time I went away, a few months later, I left Olive at your house again.  It had gone so well the first time (Mom and Olive had forged a special bond as well).  When I returned home this time, you were less enthusiastic about Olive.  You mentioned that you respected her distance and had a good degree of healthy fear around her.  Then you showed me the scar on your arm from when she attacked you.  I guess we all revert to our nature eventually :)

Anyway, this is the box in which I took home the things I kept from your office (some amazing gems which we'll talk about later). Olive just pushed the top off the box and jumped in. She misses you too. (And, true to her nature, she tried to bite me when I approached).  She says to tell you she's sorry about that one time...

xx Amy, the beast from the city