Sweet 16

My eldest baby, the king of the household, will be 16 this February. I can literally still remember the day back in 1993, that my mom said "there is an ad in the paper for a family who has Himalayan kittens for sale - you want an Easter kitten?".

When I graduated from college in May 1992, I accepted a job with a rickety company out of New Jersey that hired young college grads to travel around to college campuses and hawk calling cards and credit cards. It was fun for a bit, I got to see part of the country that I'd probably never have seen otherwise (hint: Stillwater, OK is a really cool town!). But the travel grew old, quickly: leaving every week on Sunday and returning home late on a Friday night - AND sharing a hotel room with someone you barely knew. In January 1993, I started a new job with a real company - and ceased the senseless travel. To celebrate, the night I got my offer, I adopted a calico kitty (Snickers) from a local kitty foster home. Murphy, the king, came along around Easter as her partner in crime. Unfortunately, Snickers left us at the young age of 4 and Murphy became the king.

He's a flame point Himalayan with the best blue eyes. If you see him, he just LOOKS regal. Since we lost Snickers together, we've added and sometimes lost a crew. Murphy has seen both Nougat and Gertie come and sadly go. He's now joined by the babies: Roo and Gracie. While there has been jockeying for position in my household (aka jealousy among cats), it seems that they ALWAYS know who is the boss.

I am contemplating calling MTV to see if I can add Murphy to their ranks of the kids who get to celebrate the "Sweet 16" on TV. Should I get him a car and have a giant party that costs nearly $1000 a head? Seriously, his being on the show makes about as much sense as the show does itself :)

Happy Pre-Birthday Murph! You've been with me through thick and thin and are a perfect cat. I hope we have many more years to come!