[ hemingway ]

soooooooo this is hemingway... we've had him for about 6 years now so we are guessing he must be around 10 years old. we were toying with the idea of getting a cat for a while & everytime i went into petsmart i was drawn to him... he just seemed very calm & wise!

i announced to my husband, mike, (actually this was before we were married!), i announced to my live-in lover! that i think i had found us a cat... come see! mike is great, very patient & understanding (especially so of all the things i get myself into!!) i'll give you an example!! we were at one of my mommy friends houses with lots of other couples with their babies, i think it was for new years eve... it was when i was still struggling to breastfeed ~ that's a whole other blog right there!! anyway my friend 'gigi' & i went upstairs into a baby bedroom to flop out our boobs & feed our babies. (flop out makes them sound a bit saggy & none of ours are!! at least mentally they're not!!) so 'gigi' & i are chatting away... we ALWAYS have a lot to 'discuss' & have a 'wickedly funny' sense of humor which we feed off.

after a while we rejoin the party... & this guy scoffs loudly 'you know the baby monitor was on & we heard your whole conversation...!!' GULP!! i'm trying to appear calm, unconcerned & control the size of my eyeballs all at once ~ meanwhile my mind is rewinding 900 miles an hour, even the words in my head are doing the rewind squeak squeak squeak!!, trying to think if i'd said anything bad!! that's got to be one of the worst things ever to be caught with your pants down like that!! i go find mike & tell him the 'monitor' dilemma. he calmly puts down his drink as says 'ok... do we have to leave now??' & that sums him up!! BRILLIANT!

back to hemingway... mike & i stood in the store looking at him, asked a few questions & the pet adoption lady says let me get him out of the cage. he is sat on a platform furthest away from the cage door... & took one look at that hand coming towards him & you just knew that this is not going to happen without someones tears being shed!!!

this lady is struggling to get him by the scruff and hemingway is dodging & weaving, both parties are starting to get testy... feeling uncomfortable mike & i almost say in unison... but with different words, you know what don't worry, we can see him well enough from here, you don't need to get him out... but no... the adoption lady would not give up, it was a battle of the wills... mike & i stood back pulling painful faces waiting for fur & claws to start flying. there were some points where i couldn't look... i didn't know a cat could stretch that long! & eventually the 'traitor' fabric of the blanket gave up to hemingway's claws, releasing his hold. after further fumbling the totally dishevelled adoption lady stood holding hemingway... we decided then & there we had to have this cat... all that & he didn't even try and scratch her once!

his name was charlie... but mike & i changed it to hemingway, we'd been to see where THE hemingway lived in florida, he was a huge lover of cats & we felt it was appropriate. although when i took him to the vets she said i don't know why you're called hemingway you don't have an extra toe... i didn't comment... as i wasn't the one being asked!!! CUCKOO!!