My Cats Are My Emotional Blankets
As Told By: Katie Harden
I have four cats. Two are my mom's, two are mine. My father passed away last year, January 28th. It was sudden. And a shock. Sawyer was my graduation gift for high school two thousand years ago. But he eventually gravitated towards my dad. They were the men of the house, so to speak. Dad had him (a large tiger cat with beautiful markings on his face) featured in his YouTube videos. You see, my dad was a bit of a pipe celebrity. Basically, it was a bunch of older dudes talking about their golden years smoking pipes. Some were women too. Now as someone who is a professional singer, with asthma and who hates the smell of that crap--it wasn't my forte. But it was what he loved. What he was passionate about.
I had my beautiful black Persian cat with a cleft pallet since I was nine years old. She passed away right before Christmas in 2013. After that, we got Belle. And she is my pride and joy. I think Middy sent her to us, honestly. She's the only cat that wears a collar, all the others hate it. Middy always loved her collar. They both had felt naked without it. Belle is going on nine years old. Then we have a beautiful Maine coon by the name of Maureen. As a horror fan, I can wholeheartedly say that I named her after Maureen Epps in Ghost Ship. Dad used to call her "Mo." She is my mom's cat. And she was recently diagnosed with lymphoma. Knock on wood, the chemo is working, and it will at least give her some time.
And then we have Summer Squash. An orange tabby cat who used to be feral. All our cats are rescue cats, and they're good cats. Don't bite or scratch unless they're being playful. Sawyer likes to follow the light on my iPhone when I'm using it in the afternoon. Belle sleeps with me, Maureen sleeps with mom on her head. Without my babies, I fear the worst. They have been emotional blankets since dad's death. And Sawyer, unfortunately, along with Summer, was there with him when he passed. They have deep emotional trauma and PTSD, like me who found him after we all woke up in the morning. Life takes awful turns, but we're that much stronger together.
About Katie Harden
Katie Harden is an Off-Broadway singer/dancer/actor. She is repped by The Talent Express in New York City, and recently finished the starring role of "Clarissa Gomez" in a short-film The Third Key. aka Skeletons, for FilmRacing.com a 72 hour film race. She is the founder and editor in chief of Lorette Magazine. Her favorite roles in theater include Narrator in Joseph, Mark Wilson directed: National Tour/Broadway: Hair, Nancy in Oliver!, Kate Mullins in Titanic (nommed for a best-featured actress award on BroadwayWorld.com) To hire Katie, visit katieharden.com.
MEOWTASTIC!
We at Lucky Pineapple Films love cats. We love them so much, we have our own cat themed store, The Cattiest Cat Shop. To celebrate our love of cats, we invited people to share their own cat stories. When we moved the website over to a new shop, we didn’t want to lose them. Voila! Here the amazing cat stories are forever preserved on the Lucky Pineapple Films website.
