New52 | Week 1: Noodle Came Home

Meet Noodle.



Noodle is a 6 month old kitty who just came home today. He hid behind the washing machine because he felt safe there. He's had a hard day being neutered and all. And he's had a hard week being at the county animal shelter. I wish I could tell him in catspeak that he's safe now. This is his new home and he's going to be loved and cuddled and played with. He doesn't have to go back to the shelter anymore.

Noodle's homecoming has been a long time coming. Five years and almost 10 months in fact. That was the last time we had a cat. We used to have two cats named Pepe (orange tabby) and Petey (all gray) and we loved them. But after they were both gone, we just didn't have the heart to get another cat. Time passed by and every day that we didn't have to clean cat litter or fur off the furniture, the less likely we were to get another cat. Our house was much cleaner without a cat. When we went on vacations we didn't have to worry about someone coming to take care of a cat. It was freeing.

But in the last year we've felt that a good cat would be a possibility again. But taking the plunge to commit ourselves to take care of and love a cat again was hard. We would say to each other, "Let's go to the shelters and look at cats." But we both knew that if we went, we would come home with a cat. Because we're not heartless. And as soon as that cat started purring in our arms at the shelter, we were goners. So we resisted going. As much as Peppermint would send us links to available cats at shelters in our area, we resisted. She loves her cats and wanted the same for us.

Talks of cats continued without any action. Until Christmas Day. I saw a rather large gift under the tree. It said, "TO: Todd and Christine. FROM: Santa". But strangely, it was in Todd's handwriting. I opened the gift and it was a litterbox. What was Santa trying to tell us? Maybe it's time to open our hearts again to provide a home for a cat.

So on Wednesday, Dec. 29th, we took the day off and went to the Humane Society to look at cats. We saw many cats but none jumped out at us. We were open to adult cats, but not past the age of five. We wanted to have some good years with our cat. There just weren't any cats there that tugged our heartstrings. Just as we were leaving, they pointed across the courtyard and told us that the county animal shelter was right across the courtyard on the same campus. It's a separate entity but they have cats there too. So we went over there and looked at all the cats. Still didn't see any that we felt were calling to us. I don't know why, but we went around the facilities again and didn't see any cats that stood out. Todd was about to open the door to leave, when I bent down and saw a gray cat crouched in the corner. What's that??? A gray cat!

We went to the front desk and filled out a form so we could have an interact with gray cat. As soon as gray cat came out of the cage, he started purring loudly. This was a sign that we had been looking for. Sounds dumb but our gray cat Petey used to purr loudly and it was something we loved. This gray cat was scared and crouching with his tail down, but he purred loudly when we petted him. Then I held him and he didn't struggle at all. Just settled into my arms and continued to purr. I loved him already.

Turned out, gray cat was 5.5 months old and had JUST been relinquished by his owner THAT very day we went in. His owner was allergic to cats and couldn't keep him. The rest is history, because we were goners. We filled out the paperwork to adopt him, but he couldn't come home with us because they require the animal to be neutered/spayed before going home. And because of the holidays, the vet next door at the Humane Society was all backed up and couldn't do the surgery until Sunday. So Noodle was scheduled to come home at 4pm on Sunday.

I called on Sunday and they said he was ready to come home, except one thing. They told me when they went in to do the surgery, "he" was a "she". No way. I told them there must have been a mix up because the cat I picked out was a boy. They said they don't know any more information because they just do the surgery on the animals that the county shelter send over. But the county shelter was closed to the public on Sunday AND Monday, so I couldn't get in to talk to anyone to clear up the confusion. I was sure the girl cat was not Noodle. I spent two sleepless nights Sunday and Monday night. Finally it was Tuesday morning and we got to the county animal shelter just as they opened at 9:30am. We explained the situation. I was so afraid that Noodle got adopted by someone else and we were too late. I explained that the BOY gray cat that I picked out had a half black/ half white nose. The lady pulled Noodle's photo up on her computer screen and said, "Is this him?" Yes! So she called someone to check if Noodle was a boy or a girl, because his ID chip said he was a female. That person came back and said, "Male". So finally it was straightened out! We redid the paperwork and Noodle was scheduled for neutering this morning and pickup after 4pm today.

As soon as he came home and got out of the carrier, he started purring. Right now he's curled up sleeping on a blanket in the laundry room. I love him already. I'm such a sap. I'm glad I opened my heart up to make room for Noodle. He's finally home.



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About This Project


New52 is a project started by me and Peppermint to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.

Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post, scrapbook page, photograph or other recorded history in the link list below. You can also post images to our New 52 Flickr Group! We would love to see what you were inspired to do.