Yesterday, in my first blog post ever, I mentioned one reason for blogging is for others to get to know the real me better. To understand the core of me, basically, you must first know that I am a
huge ANIMAL LOVER. Literally, I would rather hang out with animals than people. No offense ;)
Today was a very long, busy day, but I came home to something that fills me with so much joy a few nights per week. Her name is Dora.
When we first moved into our apartment in September '10, we always saw this white cat wandering around outside. It was friendly and attention-seeking, but also a little skittish. Collin and I began calling her "Whitey." How original!
One night, on our way to our apartment, we saw Whitey, our upstairs neighbor (who we call "Stompy"... you may understand why we've given our upstairs neighbor such a name), and a young woman gathered downstairs. We heard from the young woman, "her name is Dora. She is an explorer. We used to live in the country and she was able to roam around outside, so we're letting her wander around here." Ah ha! We finally got her name. As I'm writing this, I'm now remembering Dora used to hang out with a calico kitten that we called Patch (had a brown patch on one eye).
Well, over the course of a few weeks, we started noticing Stompy letting Dora inside his apartment, although it clearly belonged to the woman who lived a few apartments away. We though it was kind of sketchy, but one night we realized just how rough Dora had it with her actual owner. On the night of Black Friday (our first one either of us had ever gone to), we went outside in the wee hours of the morning, while it was pouring down rain outside, and heard Dora's meow. It was so loud and sorrowful and we finally discovered her sitting outside the door of her owner's place (the lights were on inside). We went out for a few hours, came back, and she was still up there meowing her little kitty lungs out (the lights weren't on anymore). :(
As Stompy started letting Dora into his apartment, we wondered if he adopted her from her other owner. Still, it was only occasional that Dora would come over to Stompy's. We haven't seen Dora's original owner in months now, and Dora comes home to Stompy nightly. Dora is so lucky now. It's hilarious to hear Dora meow once outside and you can hear RUNNING Stompy getting to the door as fast as possible. Sometimes I get excited that she's outside and want to go pet her, but he's always too quick to let her in. We've never talked to Stompy, but he lives by himself and I am quite glad that they have become such close companions.
The thing that I love most about Dora being here is that I come home a few nights per week to see her downstairs, as if guarding the staircase. She loves it when I play with her and pet her, and it almost feels as if she's my pet, although I don't have to take on the responsibilities of having one. Now, if we could actually have a pet of our own right now, I would gladly take on the responsibilities in a heartbeat. I just love animals TOO much. It's crazy how happy a little kitty can make me, even though I am really a dog person!
On a side note, check out this ADORABLE blue heeler I found on CraigsList the other day... we would have gotten him if we lived in a house with a yard:
