Loving Cats

ONE OF MY CATS IS MISSING. The grey one, with the green eyes and sweet face. he left home I believe in July third, just as the neighborhood was exploding with noise, and I suspect that's what drove him out, he perhaps having, unlike my other cats, associated the horrible noise with home, and running away terrified. I'm despondent, grieving, but will never give up hope, although I am becoming resigned. I once had one missing for four months, and he returned, so, I haven't given up hope. My other eight cats, six outdoor and two indoor, are fine. I don't like people who don't like cats. To dislike an animal is beyond my comprehension. People who do not like cats are as distressingly, inexplicably common as people who support Donald Trump. I would rather Donald Trump, his supporters, and all cat haters vanish from the Earth than a single stray cat die prematurely. I have a friend who dislikes cats because she says they are arrogant and they carry diseases, as if she herself were not arrogant and did not carry diseases. She doesn't wear a mask; if she doesn't carry a disease, she certainly is willing to. The arrogant part about cats I readily agree with. the arrogant independence of cats I find, as do cat lovers generally, to be their most attractive quality. One never approaches a cat, one waits until the cat approaches, and if one is lucky, the cat approaches. As far as arrogance goes, arrogant as cats are, they don't hold a candle to human arrogance, so I've never met a human yet who should ever call a cat 'arrogant" without taking a long look at the log in his or her eye. I love people who love cats. Mark Twain, whom I love, said that anyone who loves cats is his automatic friend and comrade, without further introduction. Cat people are good people, intelligent people. I will always mourn the cats I have loved in teh past who have long been dead. I will always remember their names, the sounds they made, the affection they showed me, the love they gave me. the greatest beauty of cats is their enormous capacity for affection, and the willingness with which they express it. At least eight more times I will grieve the loss of a beloved cat, if i live that long. Every time, it will be as difficult as the last.