My cat Riki is the best pet on the planet, in my opinion. I purchased her from the ASPCA for $85 when she was six months old. I remember when I first met her. I entered a room at the ASPCA that contained cages of kittens. There were children already in the room playing with the kittens and letting others out of their cages. A little girl lifted the latch on a cage at the bottom of a particular stack of cages. Three little timid kittens slowly came out of the cage opening, slowly creeping into the area of the visiting room. But then, seemingly out of nowhere, bounded a kitten that roared out of the cage with reckless abandon! And commenced to running around the small room. She was so full of life! I thought to myself, “that is a wild little cat!” no one’s going to pick that one.”
After visiting for some time I deliberated over which kitten I would choose. I watched the little girl and her brother play with the timid three, completely ignoring wild number four. I thought, “well, the kitten that got my attention was the little wild one so I’ll go against my better judgment and pick her.” I scooped her up as she was in the process of killing the little boys shoe string. I held her close and she immediately clung to my shirt with her claws, hanging there like a little furry medallion. We walked to the front desk in this position and I purchased one of my best friends, she also came with a spay/neuter coupon.
I was freshly divorced and living in a large house by myself which had just enough furniture in it to support my children when it was their time to be with me. My companion on other days was Riki. She became my “roommate”. We watched sports together, ate dinner together and I made a little spot for her at the end of my bed where she would sleep. I would give her big hugs before I left for work and encourage her to be a “big cat” while daddy was at work. I explained to her that I named her Riki in honor of biggest cat I’ve ever seen owned by my friend back in Buffalo, NY. That Riki was not only huge but so so cool. I loved that cat. Other than size, my Riki is as small as my friend’s Riki was big, My Riki has really represented the coolness of her namesake.
Riki is now a grownup indoor outdoor cat. She hunts the back yard, climbs trees like a squirrel and has truly maintained all of the wild qualities that made her so noticeable to me that day at the ASPCA. One day my daughter and I pulled up in the drive way and saw Riki low in the grass in the backyard hunting a rabbit. She stalked and watched the rabbit and stalked and watched some more even when the Rabbit ran away, I didn’t say she was a good hunter. Upon watching this seen and then seeing Riki run playfully to greet us my daughter exclaimed, “I want to live like Riki, without a care in the world, just enjoying life and poorly hunting rabbits.”
We should all work to live like Riki. She doesn’t worry about what she will eat or drink. She doesn’t worry whether I will open the window and let her in. She doesn’t worry whether her water bowl will be filled. She didn’t worry about whether she would be adopted from the ASPCA. She lives a life of complete faith. If our Father in Heaven takes care of Riki so wonderfully what do we have to worry about?
Troy Myree Sr. is Founder of SeriousEncouragement.com, LLC and the author of “SeriousEncouragement.com ~ Living Life from the Inside Out”, available on Amazon.com and SeriousEncouragement.com online bookstore.
