My Baby is Growing Up

Today is my little man Benjen's 1st birthday. Of course we're not exactly sure when he was born, but rough estimate given to us by the vet had his birth in mid August.

Last year, Mike and I were at Turkey Run, my first camping trip. It was a blast. On that exact trip, I had told him that i always wanted to be one of those people that find what I called a "forest kitten". You know, those people that just walking through the woods and find a litter of kittens just chilling. Yeah, I wanted that to happen to me because who could get mad about you saving a litter of kittens from the wilderness. Needless to say, I didn't find any forest kittens. I still look though. Not so much to keep them as I have two psychopaths of my own, but just because I know people are assholes and drop their unwanted pets in forest preserves.

We came home and went back to our respective houses. A little over a month later, Mike is gone for the weekend for his friend's wedding. I couldn't go because I had to work. I get a random text from him saying that Ben, his housemate and bestie, found something in his garage and he thinks it may be a kitten. I'm immediately in a frenzy. I had to wait an entire day for Mike to come home. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't concentrate. As I was driving over to his place, I was convinced it was going to be some mangy orange tabby (I have a personal annoyance with orange tabbies, it's a thing I'll have to explain later). In the two minutes it took me to get there, I had decided that I'd even take the mangy, old abandoned orange tabby.

I get there and the search and capture is already underway. Mike and our two friends are searching high and low. Finally Mike pulls out a ladder and looks at the rafters. "Oh, it's a little tuxedo cat". I nearly lost my mind. "Give him to me, he's my precious" kind of lost my mind. So Mike managed to scare him down and Elise, the other lady of our group, decides to - with her bare hands - grab the kitten from its hiding spot. I've dealt with a lot of animals in my life and have been lucky enough to not have gotten rabies or any other infections. I still would have grabbed the kitten with my bare hands as well because he was the chosen one sent to me from God himself. (I don't really believe that, if anything I believe it was my mom.... or happenstance) So Elise gets all sorts of torn up as she's trying to drop this wild thing into our cat carrier, which was already in the garage. That's when I promptly took the crate sat it on the patio table and got to really see the thing.

He was gorgeous. Scared, tiny, but gorgeous. This big amber/green eyes looking at me. I just kept saying, "I got you, little man". He looked identical to Nova and I have to admit I cried a little while I just sat there staring at him as he stared back at me. I think it was Jesse who asked "What are you going to do with him?" I literally just blurted, "I'm keeping him." Mike was floored. I could see it on his face. It was a major decision that I had absolutely no right to make on my own. I still lived with my sisters and their dog and cat. But I was sure. 100% sure that he was mine - and that he was in fact a he. 2 hours and $300 later, my little man - who was certified as a male - was sent home with a clean bill of health and his first round of boosters.

A bit of drama on multiple ends kind of prompted Mike to let me move in with him and Ben and John (Ben's dad) and Lulu, Mike's cat and big bad teddy bear Rudy (Ben's pitbull mastiff). Ben and John had found the kitten so the joke was that I should name him Benjamin John or BJ for short. I wasn't going to call my cat BJ, for multiple reasons. So sitting there, staring at each other, I played with the two names in my head. By the time we had gotten to the vet, he was Benjen.

Today is my Little Man's 1st birthday. I'm getting him a salad from work because he loves leafy greens. Don't worry, I did like five hours of research to make sure that a plain plate of romaine lettuce wouldn't kill my baby. Benjen is a big in the ass sometimes. He has razor sharp claws that we can only trim when he's asleep because when he sleeps, it's like he's in a coma. He has massive razor sharp teeth that we can't do much about. He's like a much crazier, much more dangerous version of Rudy. I love him though. With all of my soul. I do genuinely believe that if there is an afterlife, my mom sent him to me.