One day when Caitlin was about twelve or thirteen years old, she came inside with this little kitten and said, "Look what showed up at our house!" Immediately followed by, "Can we keep her?" OK, so I have traditionally been the mom who let her kids have pretty much any animal they asked for: hamsters, rabbit, sand crabs, dogs, horse, pig and we even brought a kitten home from a field trip to a farm once. When Caitlin asked if we could keep the kitten, of course, I wanted to but told her the responsible thing: "That kitten might belong to somebody so we need to post signs throughout the neighborhood to see if she's lost. If no one claims her then sure, we can keep her." Oh, we put up signs and asked around and as fate would have it, no one claimed the little kitten. We fed her, cleaned her up, took her to the vet...and named her Clementine. It was quite a few years later that I found out the "real" story about how Clementine came to end up at our house.
You see, I had a teenage girl who took Caitlin to her dance class one week and there happened to be a kitten there. I bet you know where this story is going, don't you? Well, Caitlin asked her teacher if it belonged to anyone and when she was told, "No, would you like to take it home with you?", of course, that is exactly what she did! On the way home, she concocted this story of the kitten showing up on our doorstep, while actually placing it there herself. Does she know me well or what?! She knew that I wouldn't be able to resist that little kitty and once I started taking care of it, the deal would be sealed...it would be ours!
Eleven years later, we still have our Darlin' Clementine! And I must admit that she is one of the sweetest cats we have ever owned. Everyone loves her, especially the Grands. They are always wanting to pet her and she is so gentle with them and seems to enjoy all the attention. Now, Clementine is the cat who often times has also been known to hide from us. When she stayed inside and lots of people were around, it would be hours after everyone left when we would finally see her slink around the corner. And then when she began living outside (because of family members who have allergies), I worried for the longest time that she would wander off and I would never see her again. Robby reassured me that she wasn't about to leave this house. And so, you see, when I couldn't find her for two days in a row this week, I began to get worried that something had happened to her. She didn't show up to eat on the back porch each morning and I didn't see her laying around in the sun. I kept mentioning the fact that I thought something was terribly wrong to Robby and he kept telling me not to worry. Then he came into the house Monday afternoon and announced that he had found my cat. OH NO! What did that mean, he had "found" my cat? (always thinking the worst...) And then to my relief he said she had apparently wandered into his work shop on Saturday and curled up somewhere and then the door got shut. WHEW! I was so happy to see her and she was happy to see me too....with a big ole bowl of food in my hand for her. I realize that Clementine is getting old and won't be around forever but for today, I am happy that she is still here. I love my "Darlin', Clementine"!
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Oh my darlin'
Oh my darlin'
Oh my darlin', Clementine...
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