Oh la la

I fell in love with a cat named Oh la la this week. The name alone coupled with her aqua blue eyes and her pink metallic tag declaring her title, completely enamored me to her soft gray feline-self. She visits our house each morning and evening, bolting in the house the moment we crack open the door. Even my husband, who is not a fan of the purring and pawing breed, thinks she is “a pretty cool cat”. After several days of Oh la la exploring our house, I called the number on her tag. I felt like we were quietly kidnapping someone else’s cat each time she strolled through our home.

It turns out, Oh la la lives a few streets away within our neighborhood. Audrey, her owner is 8 months pregnant. Oh la la apparently dashes out of the house each morning. Audrey’s growing belly prevents her from rushing out in the yard after the zigzagging cat. I shared with Audrey that Oh la la has spent some time in our house over the last few days. I wanted to check and make sure that she felt okay about Oh la la’s rendezvous in our family room. Secretly, I hoped that by contacting Oh la la’s owner, she would sigh and say, “Oh, that cat is such a pain! If you want to keep her over there…be my guest!” Instead, she said, “You know what? I guess I would say not to let her in, just because I am afraid she won’t come back home then. “ My heart sank. “She‘s my little princess. I got her seven years ago. I’m sure you see how sweet she is.”

Of course, I noticed her extraordinary demeanor. I hoped that perhaps Audrey no longer recognized or appreciated Oh la la’s charming behavior. My phone call proved that thought incorrect. Before hanging up, I agreed to keep Oh la la outside and said good-bye feeling deflated despite Audrey’s chipper, “Thanks honey!”

This is not the first time I’ve fallen in love with someone or something that wasn’t mine. A few years ago I met a small boy in our workout childcare room that I felt a strong connection to. I discovered later that he was being fostered by a local family here in town. Immediately, I felt that Josh and I were meant to adopt him. Needless to say, the family fostering him loved him as well and was working on adopting him already. I did not sleep more than a few hours a night for weeks feeling distressed over the situation, wondering what it could mean. Were Josh and I meant to foster children? Is that why I fell in love with this little boy at our gym? Was it to show me that I was ready to adopt a toddler and didn’t “need” to experience babyhood once again? Whatever the purpose, the situation impacted me in a powerful way. We did go on to later adopt Kai as a toddler, only a few weeks younger than that little boy who charmed me so quickly months ago.

This love at first sight phenomenon has only occurred twice in my life, once with a little two year old boy and now with a whimsical and affectionate cat, Oh la la. I am not sure what these situations say about me. I still keep an eye out for that little boy when I am out running errands around town . And in the case of Oh la la, I remain quick to give Oh la la some attention when she shows up at our door, outside the house of course. Who knows, maybe a cat is in our family’s future, just not Audrey’s princess.