Oh, Araby

Recently married and first-time homeowners, my wife and I decided to visit our local animal shelter to add to our family. They had just built a bigger building to better serve the area. Fortunately for us, a shelter cat had a litter of kittens that had just reached adoption age, and my wife was going to let me pick which one we took home. In the pen by the front window, the little kittens were playing on the floor and flipping over one another in their mock fights. They were cute, but they all looked the same to me. I watched them a little longer and pet a few, but they were more content with their game and each other than they were with my attempts to pet them. As the sun came out from behind a cloud, light shone on a kitten laying in a bed right in front of the window. She was laying on her side, and the sunlight gave her brown stomach a red hue. I decided to pet her. She immediately began to purr. Between her beautiful coloring and immediate purring, I was hooked. We made our “purchase,” a donation to help the animal shelter continue to help animals find their forever homes. Then we made the trip home.

Now that we were home, a name needed to be agreed upon. My wife seemed set that this was still going to be my cat more than hers, and she seemed content with the name I had picked, Araby. “Araby” is a short story by James Joyce featuring a little boy going to a bazaar for a gift to impress a girl. A favorite story of mine at the time, the name seemed to fit this little lady. Most important, her name is as unique as she is. Araby has since followed me everywhere in the house. When she was young, she slept on my pillow, arched around my head. As she aged and received a cat tower of her own, she spent her nights sleeping mere feet from our bed. When I am gone, she sits in the front window waiting for me to return home, basking in the afternoon sunshine. As the door opens, she usually plops on the rug looking for immediate attention.

We have all seen pictures of pets and owners that look alike. There was not necessarily a physical likeness between us. In the moment we shared in the window, I sensed this cat had a personality like mine. We are introverts. She was comfortable sitting off to the side on her own. The hubbub of being in the middle of it all did not appeal to her. She moved to the sound of her own drum. My wife often jokes any other kitten on the floor would have been friendlier when we have visitors and allow other pets into the house, but this cat was and is content in her own skin. She has her favorite spots to sit, whether it is a window in the sun or my lap, Araby does not need much more in her life. Other people and places just get in the way of what she wants. That is the joy that can be found in an animal shelter. The animals do not need crowds of people to show up for them. They just need one person who can be the favorite to interact with. In this day and age, we could all use more joy, and shelter animals can provide that. Naturally the sun may not necessarily illuminate the pet for each person, but one cannot find out until he or she visits a shelter.