Dear Reader Column 09-25-18

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Dear Reader,

Today's guest author Kim Vogel Sawyer, a former elementary school teacher, fulfills her childhood dreams by writing fiction. Kim and her retired military husband live on the beautiful plains of Kansas, the setting for many of her novels, including her most recent title, Ours for a Season which takes place predominantly in a Kansas ghost town. When Kim isn't writing, you'll find her spoiling her grandchildren, quilting, or traveling.

Please say hello and welcome author Kim Vogel Sawyer to our book club. Email: Kim@KimVogelSawyer.com

A friend recently gifted me with a little wooden plaque bearing the following quote: "Life without cats? I don't think so." My friend gets me.

Except for one brief stint of apartment life (which I would cheerfully scrub from my memory banks), I have always in my 50-something years had a pet for a cat. No, that isn't exactly accurate. One does not own cats the way one owns dogs or hamsters or iguanas. So let's say I have volunteered to be a cat's human.

My parents had cats before I was born and throughout my baby- and toddlerhood, but the first cat to truly claim me was Cindy. Cindy, bless her heart, was probably the most unattractive tortoiseshell ever to be born, but she was oh-so-tolerant of five-year-old me. I dressed her in doll clothes and pushed her up and down the street in my little doll carriage. She sat through countless tea parties and listened to endless prattle. We moved from Kansas to Minnesota when I was seven, and she yowled the entire way. When we moved back to Kansas the next year, my parents said Cindy shouldn't be forced to bear that drive again, and we left her with friends. I yowled all the way to Kansas.

Only a few days after settling into our new house I was walking home from school, and a beautiful black and white, long-haired, half-grown kitten leaped from some bushes and attacked my shoestrings. I stopped for a few minutes and played with it, and I might have neglected to tie my shoes before moving on. I reached my yard and the kitten was prancing along behind me, so I announced to my mom, "Look what followed me home!" Mom raised her eyebrows in a way that let me know she suspected manipulation, but she didn't say much.

Dad said plenty, though: "We're not getting another cat. You'll have to take it back where you found it." He sat in his chair and opened the newspaper, and that sly little kitty leaped into his lap, curled into a ball, and began to purr. Dad took me to the house where I'd found the kitten and asked the people if we could keep it. And that's how Mittens adopted me.

Over the years, other cats have weaseled their way into my affection--Toby, Smokey, Seymour, Isabella, Sam, and currently Maizie-Grace, Clyde, and Frances (although, truthfully, Frances has claimed my husband as her human). I was cooing at Clyde a few days ago, and my husband said, "If you had to choose between that cat and me, you'd probably take the cat." I wisely remained silent, but I'm pretty sure Clyde winked. He knows the truth. Life without cats? I don't think so.

-- Kim Vogel Sawyer
Email: Kim@KimVogelSawyer.com

Don't miss this opportunity. Everyone has a story to tell. Enter the 14th Annual Write a DearReader Contest. Two new twists this year. You can collaborate with a writing partner, and if your entry is chosen as a First Place ($200), Second Place ($100), or Third Place ($50) winner, we will donate a 50% matching gift to your library in your name.

For rules, deadlines, prizes and to read last year's winning entries, click here.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

This month's Penguin Classics book is THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JOAQUIN MURIETA, by John Rollin Ridge. I have a Penguin totebag to share with a lucky reader. Read this month's Penguin Classics book and enter-to-win for your chance to win the adorable totebag.

Comments

[Linda Freedman]

Hello, fellow readers!

I loved this column! I was an only child. My sibling was my fluffy red and white cat Mike.
Mike wore my doll's dressesand ate cat food with milk in it off a spoon while sitting in my doll's high chair. Wearing a dress, Mike slept in my doll carriage as I strolled up and down the side walk.

Reading this column was like reading my own story. I have had cats from the age of 5. My husband and I currently have six cats, four of which are special needs cats.

Thank you for sharing.