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| Mika |
Isn't he cute?
And also very sweet, rather shy, and tends to hide under the bed unless he's needed.
It really is a pity that the literal meaning of his name is "mister," not "nurse." 'Cause that's what he is.
We got Mika a little over 13 years ago.
My heart had already been run over by a truck earlier in the year by the death of a friendship I truly valued and thought I'd have forever, and now felt almost blown to smithereens by the death of my father-in-law. When we found out that a friend of a friend had a bunch of kittens on their farm who were old enough to go to new homes, I turned to Hubby with puppy-dog eyes.
He said no.
I got him to agree to at least go look, after I pointed out that Keiki was still grieving, too, and still sleeping up against our front door, waiting for Grandpa to show back up (they were buds).
We came home with Mika.
He was so little, especially compared to Po. (Then again, every kitten was little compared to Po.) And he didn't exactly meow. He squeaked. (Also ridiculously cute, that was.) With Po and Keiki, you'd hear the whole meow. With Mika, all you heard was the -ow, although his mouth moved through both syllables.
In fact, throughout the last 13 years, Mika still has his personal volume set on "really soft." Rarely does he make loud noises...unless you accidentally step on his paw or his tail. Or if a cat shows up outside that he decides is infringing on his turf (it was odd the first time that happened, but Chaos was a nasty cat, and appropriately named).
Mika, as it turns out, is definitely what I would consider a gift from God.
I mentioned earlier that naming him Nurse might have been more appropriate, and the reason for that is that he is incredibly attached to me, and he just knows when I'm not feeling quite right.
I once caught an incredibly bad flu bug that turned into a sinus infection and benched me from work for more than a week. I spent the better part of that week in bed, alone. (Hubby didn't want to catch it. I don't blame him.) Except when Mika would come in. He would drape himself over my limp arm, purr even quieter than he meowed, and just be. And he would lay like that for hours.
He wasn't sure I was real, and not a figment of his feline imagination, when I finally came home from my folks' place after living there nearly 11 weeks when I recovered from that accident three years ago. Didn't take long for him to drape himself over my foot.
He's been known to try to herd me towards bed when he senses I'm feeling ill. He usually knows before I do. He gets very perplexed when I don't obey him.
Yesterday, we took the kids to the local area fair. We got to see one of our youth group teens take first place in a calf showmanship competition, and I got fair fries (yum), and we generally baked in the 88-degree heat and stuffy humidity. (The breeze was not as consistent as I'd have liked.) We wandered around. We saw friends. I forgot my cane at home, so my feet were really hurting after about two and a half hours. The kids were begging to go on rides.
And the cloudless sky meant a very bright sun.
I was ready to go. Largely because I was hot and uncomfortable...and I'd just had a migraine, triggered by the bright sun, slam into my head, behind my right eye.
We let the kids go on one ride (they had a blast), and Hubby promised to bring them back later in the week for more rides. And we went home.
And I went to bed.
Mika skipped up the steps (it's so hard to believe he's 13 and still so spry) ahead of me, mewing for me to follow.
Then he followed me back downstairs when I went to get something to eat so my rescue meds wouldn't burn a hole in my stomach. And back upstairs to bed.
He jumped on the bed ahead of me, and I lifted him out of the way so I could lay down, and leave enough room for him to curl up next to me. I love Mika snuggles.
It struck me last night, as I got up much later due to the lovely diuretic properties of the rescue meds and Mika followed me once again, this time waiting out in the hall, that God sure knew what he was doing when he had me meet Mika.
Mika's soft meowing doesn't hurt my head during the worst migraine. His purr is so quiet (unlike Pa'ani's) that you feel it more than hear it, and the vibrations are so gentle that it doesn't bother me. He can come cuddle for 20 minutes and I don't feel worse.
Pretty cool.
If you're wondering, the headache isn't so bad today. I'm still taking my rescue meds, because I need them to avoid relapsing. The kids have been good today, for the most part (Daddy gave them stern instructions before he left for work). I'm sure Mika is wondering why I'm not in bed anyway, but he doesn't want to fight the kids to find out. The extreme exhaustion of the migraine is lingering, so everybody's taking naps today, whether they like it or not.
Hey. I should go make lunch!
