Meet Mona

You knew it was bound to happen. I was so HOPING it would happen. Praying and wishing and pestering everyone in sight to get one for me. “All I want for Christmas,” I would say, with a little sniff, “is a KITTEN.”

Or a Nikon D600. I still want that.

Chad kept saying no. No, no, no, no, no.

So last week, Kristen tells me that she needs me this Saturday for my Christmas surprise. I say ok, trying not to guess, hoping it might be a kitten, but not really sure about Chad. He was really good about making me think he was completely against it. This morning, she told me my surprise is a KITTEN!

“Does Chad know?” was my first question.

“Of course!” she laughed. Like she would do this without his consent. Well, she might. I know that girl.

So we went to the pet store for supplies and to check out their cats. They have kitties from different adopting agencies, and I thought we might as well start there.

She was the first one I saw. The only semi-longhaired kitten I’d seen anywhere recently. Black and white and fluffy and sleeping in a circle on her back with her chin in the air.

“This one,” I said. I am very good at knowing what I want when I see it. I always know.I also knew her name. Mona. I don’t know where it came from, but that’s the one. Chad was kind of a hard sell on the name, but he did say that it was my kitten, so I could name her whatever I wanted. Ramona, but Mona for short. She looks like a Mona.

She played like a crazy thing for the first few hours we had her home. She and Myles get along just fine. He is mildly interested, mildly jealous, but she is WILDLY interested in him and keeps doing that little cat head jerk at him to tell him she wants to play. He yawns. Such a disappointment for poor Mona.

Then she got tired and decided to snuggle.

“Is she licking your chin?”

“YES.”

“Is she BITING your chin?”

“YES!”

I am so happy.

I am so happy, I cried.