Braeya's 18th Birthday!

 

Last week held a big milestone day in our household…our Braeya Jo turned eighteen!

            In honor of her big day, I thought I would reminisce a bit about how she came to be mine – eighteen years ago. It’s a story I’ve told before on the blog, but it’s been a while, so we’ll revisit it again.

            But let’s back up even before Braeya to talk about how I came to love cats in the first place. I think I was a second grader when my parents gifted me a pair of calico kitten siblings that came from my aunt and uncle’s house. I named them Amber and Krissy (after friends of mine), and I adored them. Amber didn’t live with us very long before she met with an unfortunate demise after a run-in with a car. It’s a peril of living on a busy highway out in the country – a hard life lesson to learn at such a young age. Krissy, though, was far less adventurous and lived for many, many years.

            And though I always dreamed of life with a dog, cat ownership suited our family better. And when I got out on my own, I still secretly (and sometimes not-so-secretly) wanted a dog, but I wasn’t home much, so I knew it wasn’t a great idea.

            For the first year after I graduated from college, I didn’t have a pet at all. I had a roommate, and she ended up moving out about three months ahead of our yearlong lease. When she left, I was truly on my own, and being alone scared me to no end. I heard every noise and wondered if someone might be breaking in. Days and nights were long and lonely, and although I had a new roommate coming, I still had a few months fully on my own.

            One of my sweet friends decided to surprise me with a little orange kitten – and I named him Kaegan. Actually, she named him. I asked her to pick his name and that’s what she gave me. Kaegan was such a laid back guy. Not much bothered him – or excited him. Naps were his favorite.

            My new roommate moved in, and she decided she wanted a cat, so she got one of her own. His name was Igor, and he and Kaegan had a blast together. They kept each other company, and when Angela moved out and took Igor with her, I feared Kaegan was going to be lonely.

            Happily, my friend Kari had a new litter of kittens at her house, and I told her I’d love to have one when they were old enough to leave their mama. I chose the one that looked different from the rest of the litter – a little Siamese-looking kitten with bright blue eyes.

            She was born on May 4^th and came home to live with Kaegan and me on Father’s Day. I was so excited to introduce them – and only then did I find out that while Kaegan liked Igor, he wasn’t wild about a little sister. She was energetic and lively, and he was an old man living inside a 5 year old’s body. He was not interested.

            For five years, he tolerated her. He would swat at her when she got too close or pushed too hard. But for the most part, he tried to avoid her. Kaegan died when he was ten, and Braeya and I formed a team to carry on in our lives.

            A couple of years later, Ryan and I started dating, and Braeya was a big fan of Ryan in our lives. Can’t blame her there.

            As she grew up, she also grew out of her rambunctiousness and seemed to find the joy for simply sitting that Kaegan had always preferred.

            She’s been a well-traveled cat, moving with us from Marion to Kokomo to Grabill to Bluffton to the lake.

            She has been a big sister to Lexi for the last couple of years – though the time that she was actually bigger than Lexi was pretty short lived. (She still runs the house, though. Braeya can put Lexi in her place pretty quickly.)

            After losing Kaegan when he was ten, I had no idea what to imagine for Braeya’s life expectancy, but 18 surpassed anything I could envision.

            These days she’s slowing down, sleeping all day and hanging out with us all night. She takes laps around the house at her convenience, gets in spats with Lexi, and sleeps next to her water bowl so she can take drinks without bothering to get up.

            We have no idea how many more years we have with her, but we love the life we have had and still have with our girl!

            Ryan told her she’s 18…time to get a job! 😊 Happy birthday, Braeya Jo!