That Special Moment

They say you will always remember the exact moment that you fell in love.  For me, it was last night, with a fluffy little kitten named Buckingham with eyes the colour of liquid butterscotch. 

All four kittens have been very reluctant to come near me since they arrived four days ago.  Every day, they're more comfortable having me around but if I move suddenly or cough or reach out my hand towards one of them, they all run away as fast as they can in the opposite direction.  I figure they're understandably nervous about being in a new place, wondering what happened to their mom, getting used to the new sounds and smells and wondering who this new giant human is that keeps trying to pick them up and cuddle them.  So I keep trying but I don't force it.  Unless I happen to be in a position to pick up one when they're not expecting it and give him or her a quick kiss and a cuddle.  (Come to think of it, that description could pretty much sums up my love life with guys as well, but that's a story for a different day.)

Last night, I reached out to pet Buckingham and surprisingly, he let me.  At first he looked like he just couldn't figure out how to get out of it but I kept doing it and all of a sudden, he looked up at me with this expression on his face, as if he had just realized that hey, this petting thing is kind of nice.  He started to purr crazy loud and rub up against my hand as if to say, keep doing it.  Zing, I could feel it happen right then and there, I fell totally in love with him.  He stood still for several minutes and I just kept petting and petting him while he purred and purred. 

The other 3 cats all looked startled, as if they were wondering where that new sound was coming from and then they all gathered quite close to the two of us, as if now that they had seen their leader do something new that he was obviously enjoying, they wanted to try it too.  So I reached out to pet Lillie (the black and white cat) and she let me too!  Then I tried to pet the other two, Alice (the all black kitten) and the tabby Barbara (formerly known as Nell Gwynne, until someone realized that that name had already been used for a previous Abbey Cat so now she's named after Barbara Villiers, another mistress of Charles II. Who names a cat "Barbara", I ask you??) but they wouldn't let me touch them.  You could tell they wanted to but they just weren't able to get over their fear of letting me get too close.  I was finally able to pet Alice this morning, after trying it again with Buckingham, who remembered he likes it and now lets me do it whenever I want, when he's not off chasing something or jumping up on the bed or chewing on something or playing with a sneaker...

Barbara still hasn't let me pet her yet.  She's probably pissed off about her name.