Tails Sometimes Start at the End

My story is sort of confusing until you get the hang of what is happening.  You see, it didn't start when I (Li'l Grey) was born in 2010.  It started, as far as my human mother is concerned, when Sandy was born in 1986.  That's who I was when I first met my mommy.  Mom had been doing research on reincarnation when I (as Sandy) died of cancer of the muscles when I was only eight years old.  I was my mommy's first cat, and she loved me so much and felt robbed that I had died so young that she told me after my spirit left my body to come back just as soon as I could possibly get back.  She wanted to be my mommy all over again.  She figured that if reincarnation worked for human souls like the ones she'd been reading about, then there was no reason it couldn't work for animal spirits too.  She'd heard people tell tales about dogs and cats coming back to live with other humans again, so she figured it was worth asking in my case.  So while she wasn't particularly surprised when I came back, she was very surprised that I managed to get back to her so fast.  I returned to her as an eight-week-old kitten just two weeks after I died as Sandy.  Yeah, do the math.  It was amazing.  She scratched her head over that for a while, but in the spirit world, things work differently.  

This is me when I was Sandy, a Norwegian Forest Cat.  I could sleep anywhere, even on the spine of a book.
Mom sometimes called me "Yoga Cat" and "Twisted Mister" because of the sleeping positions I found so comfy.

This is me after I had explored a "clean" fireplace in an apartment we used to call home.

Mom called me "Sandy Marx" for a while after that.  I never really got that joke, but maybe you will.

There was a litter of kittens born to a cat who lived with the co-worker of the woman my mommy was living with at the time.  The kittens were all solid charcoal grey.  I thought it was an amazing opportunity to get in on this gig because I'd heard my mom say one time that she would love to have a fluffy charcoal grey kitty.  Now I knew she meant in addition to me, but she never found a cat like that to adopt.  So when the runt of that litter of three was too weak to go on, I came in and took over.  I think that little kitty soul must have gone on and found a stronger body.  I took over his body and the little kitten, who had been the runt of the litter, soon became a really big and mostly healthy cat.  I say "mostly healthy" because I was missing a kidney.  As Dustin Greyfeathers, I lived my whole life with only one kidney.  My mommy didn't learn this fact until I got really sick at the very end of my life as Dustin.  The vet did an ex-ray and found only one kidney.  I think the fact that I lived for over fifteen years with one kidney surprised my mom.  She knew then that I had overcome the limitations of that body and had gone on to be an amazingly strong and healthy cat.  

Before I tell you more of my stories, let me include a few photos of my subsequent and current incarnations.  Although there are a lot of photos of Sandy, they are from the days of 35mm film camera so they always have to be scanned, so those will be more sparse in this memoir.  Even though I was an indoor cat, I did have adventures.  I ended up traveling between central Florida and Asheville, North Carolina a lot because there wasn't anyone to stay with me when my mom made trips to Florida to visit our family down there.  She could have gotten someone in to check on me, but at the time I was an only cat, and it made for lonely times if she went away for a few days.  So I started accompanying her on her driving trips, and I took to the road like a ... um, a traveling cat, I guess.  I certainly wasn't anything like a dog, head stuck out the window, tongue dripping saliva everywhere.   That is so undignified! I really loved to watch the great big trucks go by though.  I always sat up to watch those.  Man, are they ever big!

I got really good at traveling, but it took a little bit of coaxing to get my mom to take me the first time.  She'd been having to go away a lot because Auntie Jan had been sick and needed her help.  Mom was feeling guilty for having to leave me so much, so one day when she was leaving on a trip, I accosted her at the door, reached up for her to pick me up, and then I wouldn't let her go.  She ended up getting my telepathic message (she was good at that most of the time) and took a chance by taking me.  She quickly packed up a litter box, food, and water, and off we went.  I'm so glad she took a chance that day because we had so much fun, and I never had to stay home again when she went on those trips down there.  I loved the traveling part the best.  Sometimes the cats who lived with my auntie Jan weren't always friendly to me because they didn't see me all that often.  Even Moxie, who had lived with us for a year while her mommy was in American Samoa teaching, was a little frosty until she got used to me again.  But mostly it was all right.  It was a really good thing too that I got used to all that traveling because eventually I had to drive all the way out to Seattle when she moved there from Asheville, North Carolina.  Of all of us who went on that trip, I think I probably had the best time.  

Following are a few photos of me as Dustin Greyfeathers, a.k.a., "Little Bit" because I was so tiny when she brought me home at eight weeks of age.  I was so small then that I fit in the palm of my mom's hand without spilling over or covering her fingers at all.  I really was small then, but from the moment I walked in the door of my old home, I started eating and eating and eating until I grew into my fully grown self.  I was a little bit bigger as Dustin than as Sandy.  Now as Li'l Grey, I plan to be even bigger.  You watch and see.  There are bazillions of photos of Dustin, even though digital camera days didn't start until the middle of my life that time around.  There are lots and lots of 35mm snapshots and even more digital shots after Mom got a digital camera in 2003.  I like it that Mom takes lots of photos of us kitz.  It lets us know that she thinks we are special.  These first photos of me as Dustin were taken while Auntie Jan was visiting us in Poulsbo.  Auntie Jan lives in Florida, but she used to fly or drive out to Washington to visit us sometimes.  She even lived out there for a year and spent lots of time with us.  She's a good auntie.  She's a cat mom herself, so she knows how felines think, and she's sort of a sucker for a cute furry face and a loud purr.

I was 8 years old here.  I think I look like a deer caught in headlights, but Mom likes this photo.

There was stuff all over the floor where I was sitting in that photo because we had literally just moved into this apartment the day before Auntie Jan's arrival.  I liked this place because it was so interesting to watch all the people running around in downtown Poulsbo while Mom was working as manager of the Kitsap Mall Waldenbooks  in Silverdale.  I couldn't go outside while we lived there because of the busy street right outside, but Mom started letting us run around out in the hallway because there were only two apartments there above the kayak shop.  Most of the time there was no one living in the other apartment so she let us have the run of the place when she was home.  There was a flight of stairs for my brother (Bingo) and I to run up and down and a laundry room we could go into and get cobwebs on our faces.  That was always fun.  I did manage to escape one day when someone had come over for a visit and hadn't shut the outer door fully.  It was a quiet Sunday morning so I got to run around and explore a bit before I finally got to missing my mom.  She was outside calling and calling for me.  Finally I came out and let her carry me back inside.  I never got out again after that.  It was sort of interesting exploring the antique shops around there, but I thought they were asking too much for their wares.  

Here I am on the 50s-style range.  I wasn't "allowed" to be up there, but I didn't think Mom was looking.  Oops.

Here I am being cuddled by my Mom.  Auntie Jan took this photo during her visit. 

When I was Dustin the kitten, Mom used to dry me off when I went outside and got wet in the Pacific Northwest drizzle.  Then she would scoop me up and dry off my feet and kiss them.  She called me "Mister Baby Sweet Feet" during those cuddle sessions.  Some days when I wanted extra cuddles, I would go back and forth between indoors and outdoors, just so she would towel me off and cuddle me lots.  I liked that even when I was a great big grown-up boy.  I think Mom figured out that I was going in and out on purpose just for the cuddles, but she didn't seem to mind.  She always said it gave her exercise, although sometimes she grumbled about needing to install a revolving door on our homes.

This is me as Dustin, showing a little catitude.

We had kitty doors on only two of the places where I lived, but they did not have direct access from the outdoors to the inner part of the house.  There was always an interim room in those places.  I guess she got tired of having to rescue the wildlife I liked to catch and bring inside so we could play with them together.  She made it very clear that she wanted the wildlife to stay outside where they belonged, so I finally gave up and played only with toys when I was inside.  I eventually gave up chasing wildlife and took to rescuing it sometimes instead.  I was a really good hunter, but I never did like to kill things.  I just liked to catch them and show them off to Mom, but she wasn't always very appreciative.  She thanked me and all, but then I got a lecture about how the animals were her friends and that they needed to stay outside.  So I stopped trying to bring them in and played with my stuffed tiger instead.  I brought that to her every night after she got into bed.  I just liked to bring her presents, and she didn't seem to mind that it was the same present every night.  Or maybe she did mind.  I'm pretty sure she purposefully hid my tiger from me sometimes.  I think that was because I sometimes brought it to her in the middle of the night when she was less appreciative of that gesture.

Dustin's favorite toy, "Tiger."

Here is Bingo, my best friend in the world.  He is in the hallway of the apartment over the kayak shop.
Mom always called us "bubbies" because of some silly conversation years ago with Auntie Jan. 

Me and Bingo on Mom's bed.  We slept right next to each other a lot.
Mom also called us "da boyz" for some reason.

You'll hear a lot more about Bingo as I tell my story.  We were best friends and brothers ("bubbies") for eleven years as Dustin and Bingo.  It broke my heart when he died.  Mom said that it seemed like the light in my eyes went out, and it really felt that way too.  Bingo's spirit and Mom worked out for him to come back to be her cat again too, and he did. Just as she had arranged.  The right shelter.  The right day.  The right appearance.  He even came with a sibling as she had asked.  She didn't want there to be only the two of us again because it was too hard when one of us died.  I was really glad of his return, but it was really different from before.  I was thirteen by that time, and Bingo (now called Bootsy) was a kitten and came to us with his litter mate sister, Anjolie.  They were fun to play with but also exhausting, so I had to spend a lot of time outside by myself just to catch my breath.  They had so much energy, and I had starting slowing down some after Bingo died. Zuki kept an eye on the kittens when they were inside, and I kept an eye on them outside once Mom started letting them venture outside a little bit.  

Zuki when she first came to live with us.   Apparently she was only on loan to us because of Bingo's death.
Mom has said that she invited her to come back but got the distinct impression that she belongs with someone else.

Zuki took to sleeping in the bathroom sink when the kittens first arrived.
They were just a little too intense and active for her tastes.  She stayed there only a few nights.

 My whole world was shattered when I lost Bingo.  My apparent grief scared Mom into adopting another older cat, Zuki, two weeks later.  While we never got to be great friends, we both needed someone at the time, so we tolerated one another's presence while Mom was commuting all the way to Seattle.  Mom was gone for eleven or twelve hours four days a week during those two years.  That was just too hard, and I was really glad when it finally ended a few months later.  Those were probably the longest months of my life.  Mom was gone.  Bingo was gone.  All I had was Zuki, and she was none too enamored with me.  She never knew me in my more fun-loving days.  I think she might have liked me a little better then.  Somehow it seemed that the best part of me disappeared when Bingo died.  Zuki was fifteen when she came to live with us.  She was around for less than two years before time caught up with her too.  She got sick one week and then went to the vet with Mom and never came home.  Just like Bingo a couple years earlier.  

Bootsy about to wallop big brother Dustin, his "bubby."

Bootsy the adorable kitten trying to big again.

Anjolie the adorable kitten, pretending to be a bowl of kibbles.

Less than a year later it was my turn to go away and come back again in a new body with a new name.  Here I am now.  Little Grey, or Li'l Grey, if you prefer.  Auntie Jan joked around when I first got here and thought I should have a "skreet name" like I was a rapper.  I like to play around like that too.  I even wrote a few rap songs I'll share with you later.  Anyway, she said that I wasn't big enough for a name like Fifty Cent, so she nicknamed me Ten Cent, but now she and Mom think I'm big enough to be more like a quarter, so Auntie Jan is calling me "Twenty-five Cent" now.  She is just too silly for words sometimes.  I think that's why I like her so much.  She and my mom laugh a lot when they're together.

Here I am as Li'l Grey, hanging around, trying out my old sleeping poses.

Now I don't know about you, but it's time for my nap. Ciao meow!