Missy was such a pretty cat, and she was very tiny. She was a dilute tortoiseshell, which I did not learn until much later. She looked almost blue the way her colors were. She had hazel eyes, and she had such a pretty face. I could tell immediately how smart she was, and we sat together on the couch. Missy was a bit nervous, but she stayed by me. I just loved everything about her immediately. She was nervous only that day, and she trusted me very quickly.

I let her roam around the apartment, and she seemed to be a bit disoriented in her new surroundings. I remember that I went outside to get the mail, and when I came back in I did not see her. (To be continued) Goodnight Miss kitty, it is late and me and your sister Meeker and your mommy must sleep too... Xoxo

So on this first day with Missy, as I said I went outside to get the mail and left her to explore her new apartment. When I returned, I could not find her. I figured she was just hiding, and would come out soon. It got to be quite awhile, and I started to worry. I went looking for her in the house, and I started looking everywhere. I opened everything, looked in every cabinet, every possible place.I knew there was no way she escaped, but I could not find her. I began to panic and worry, and I looked more frantically. I finally realized I'd looked literally every possible place she could be, and I felt a huge dread.

I thought maybe somehow she got out, and I went to look outside. I walked for many blocks, calling her name, looking everywhere. Hours passed, and I walked for miles. I began to knock on doors, and I was distraught. It got to be late evening, and with tears in my eyes, I went back inside. I sat down on our couch, and I put my head on my hands. I said "well, I guess she is gone".

At that very moment, she came walking into the living room. I was overjoyed, and I picked her up and hugged and kissed her. We had only been together a few hours, but I loved her so. I put her down, and she went in the bedroom I'd searched countless times. There was a tiny cubbyhole behind the chest of drawers that I saw her go and squeeze under, the only place I had not looked. I did not know that it even existed! Missy was so smart, that she never hid there again, either. She knew that I had discovered her hiding place, and it was compromised!

Missy had a quiet and very dignified demeanor. She was funny though, and she had the most human-like expressions. She was funny in a subtle way, like any good comedian. She would "tell" you that she wanted this or that by staring intently, and making certain faces that indicated what she wanted. Her "frustrated" face was my favorite, and I was always certain she was frustrated she couldn't simply say what she wanted, because I really think she was that smart. One of the funniest things she would do was in the morning when I would get up and make coffee, she had a certain cabinet that she simply had to check out the inside of. She would only inspect this one cabinet, as I was having coffee. She would sit and wait to go into it and check it out, and once she saw whatever it was she needed, she would come back out and then eat her breakfast. It was like she was doing a morning ritual along with us having coffee, so we always called it her "coffee".

Missy was very tiny and seemingly demure, but another hilarious aspect of her was that she made it clear among other animals that she was a ferocious little lion. She was not really, but she could certainly put up an act. The first time I took her to the vet, I let her out of her carrier and we were sitting in the lobby. There was a huge St. Bernard that was residing there temporarily, and I asked the staff should I put her back in the carrier. They assured me he was harmless and friendly, and he came wagging his tail and wanted to say hi to Missy. She was not having it, and she started hissing and making herself try to look bigger, and she terrified this poor dog that was 100 times bigger than her. He yelped and scampered off down the hall. I could not stop laughing, but the staff did not think it was funny. That made it even more funny really, to think this 5 lb. tiny cat was "bullying" a huge dog 😂... Goodnight Miss kitty, I am in better spirits. Just here writing about you and remembering all the happy times is making me smile..

Missy was a thorough house cat, and we are pretty sure that she had never been outside. She was always used to living in small apartments in the city, and that suited her just fine. I always loved her mannerisms, and her "pretend aloof" act. When you would come in, she would make a point to pretend she was ignoring you. This would go on for awhile, and if you went to pet her, she would just act slightly annoyed and uninterested. If you just ignored her though ,then in a few minutes she would come around. She was affectionate in the most reserved way, and I always felt she had such a perfectly feline personality. When she wanted something, she had the most brilliant ways to communicate. If she wanted to play , she would come sit and stare at you, then go sit by her rug or her peacock feathers and stare until you got the point. She was not averse to waking us up to feed her, but even the way she did that was funny and reserved. She would come sit by us, and reach one paw out, then just "push" you once. None of that walking all over and being annoying, she was much too smart for that, and it was not her style to be "uncouth". Missy was always refined, and her name suited her so perfectly, we always thought. I had to edit this part, because Cristina reminded me that Missy only would wake me up in the nice manner ! Lol. She would wake her up by taking her paw and "tapping" her on the shoulder repeatedly. Even that I think was funny and human-like, as she would wake her up like a person would.

Missy had a favorite game she loved to play, and I called it "the most dangerous game". She loved to sit on the rug, and for us to reach under the rug and she would attack where your hand was moving. We would quickly try to get our hands away because she would claw you through the rug, making it the most dangerous game! That was always her very favorite thing to do, and she would go to the rug and sit and look at you for you to come play the game with her, and she never tired of it. Goodnight Missy, I have been coming here every night and I love to remember all of our happy times. I think of you everyday and love you always .. xoxo

Missy loved the sunshine more than anything, and she would move around the house and follow the best sunbeams throughout the day. We had gotten a box from Cristina's work, and it was from the Portland "Sunshine Division", which is a police organization that works to donate food to the needy. Missy loved to sit in that box, and it said Sunshine Division on the side. We made it like it was her "patrol car" and we wrote "mouse patrol" on the side. So, Missy became the Sunshine Division Mouse Patrol! Later on, she got a plain black storage box that she preferred to sit in, so the story became that Missy was promoted to detective, and now she drove a "plain black wrapper" 😂 The Sunshine Division "car" was retired, since that was from her "beat cop" days lol.

Missy loved having the house to herself, and the day we brought another kitty home she was not too happy about it. "Meeker" which is what we call "Meiko" belonged to a neighbor in the apartments, but she was always outside. The street was dangerous and busy, and we used to worry about her a lot. She is a tortoiseshell cat like Missy, but is much bigger. She used to come up to us and she liked to "talk", so we would always visit with her outside and we loved her. We always said we wished we could keep her, but we wouldn't just take the neighbors cat. We were very happy when she was moving, and asked if we wanted her. Of course we said yes, and we brought her home. She has quite the different personality than Missy, and is very outgoing.

Missy did not really care to socialize with this new,big,goofy cat. Meeker at first tried to make friends, but Missy made it clear that this was her house, and she was the one in charge. Any socializing would be done in Missy's time, and on her terms. Meeker got hissed at and swatted a few times, but she never held any grudge with Missy. Missy got used to her after awhile,and over time we saw them sitting closely together. This was how we learned that cats have a rule that even if they do not get along,they always share the best sunbeams. They would move around the house together following sunbeams,and they had some kind of understanding and rules that we did not understand,but they did.Goodnight Missy kitty, I love u always and love to visit you here at this place and remember all of our good times. We miss you so...