My family has teased me about my love of Annie forever. This is probably a better things to be teased about than say most of the clothes I wore between 1987 and 1995 or my love of New Kids on the Block. I hated the teasing over the years, but it led me to the discovery of the cat we all know and love as Pumpkin.
I moved to Hawaii after graduating from college. My dad was stationed at Ft. Shafter and I had zero idea of what to do with my life, so I took my parents up on the offer to live at home while I figured it out. I enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Hawaii Manoa (not a great idea) and found a job working at Diamondhead Theatre. The only downside was that I had to leave my cat, Molly, behind in New Orleans. Mainland pets have to be quarantined for several weeks and it's expensive. Molly was adopted by a friend of mine and lived a wonderful life in New Orleans. My parents knew I was disappointed about leaving Molly behind so they decided to "get me" a cat for Christmas (they paid the adoption fees at the SPCA). We decided to go to the shelter while my brother was visiting for the holidays so the whole family could be involved in finding the cat.
Right before we went to the find my cat, my dad saw an ad in the paper featuring an orange cat named Annie. He joked that he had found "my cat" and we had a nice laugh over. I don't remember if I called to see if she was still there or not; I don't think I did. I feel like we decided to see if she was still there when we got there. Cats are particular about people so I didn't want to get my heart set on her and then she didn't like me. In my heart, though, I really wanted that particular cat. I wanted to be her human.
The experience of going to an animal shelter is overwhelming. There are so many animals that need love and a good home. Unfortunately, many of them don't find that home and it's sad to think about what happens to them. The areas for cats are often the most full parts of shelters; people abandon cats with a frequency that has always alarmed me. At the SPCA we went to, the older cats were in the first room and were mostly allowed to roam and laze about as cats do. Since I was interested in adopting a younger cat, our SPCA lady walked us quickly through the open room to a smaller side room where younger cats were kept. I walked in behind the SPCA lady and moved forward so everyone else could come in. My dad stopped by the first set of cages while I started looking around. Not even a minute into the room I heard him say, "I think I found your cat." In the cage right next to him was Annie. She had stuck her little paw through the cage and tapped my dad on the shoulder as if to say "Hey buddy, I'm over here!" I walked over, she meowed, the lady let her out, she jumped into my arms, and the rest is history. This also explains why my father is her second favorite person. We renamed her Pumpkin, after a series of votes (where the popular vote actually mattered), and she came home on January 3, 2002. She spent her first few days soaking up the sun on the lanai and terrorizing geckos. Eventually, she would "patrol" the lanai to keep us safe from the wild pigs that roamed Ft. Shafter. She was always looking out for our safety...or something.
Pumpkin lived a great life. She got to live in Hawaii and California, two states many people covet as homes. She caught mice in my apartment in New Orleans to show me what a killer she was. She enjoyed torturing bugs who dared to come into our home. She made the sassiest faces, perfecting the side-eye shade like a freaking boss. She made me laugh, annoyed me, and comforted me when I needed it. I, in turn, fulfilled my role as her devoted human (with hundreds of photos to prove it). What I didn't realize was how much joy she brought other people, many of whom never met her. They only experienced her through social media posts and stories on the Island. It's amazing to me to see how much joy she brought people and how many commented on her "personality" and how they looked forward to following her adventures. She have ignored most of them in person, but what can I say? Cats are jerks. Tiny, fluffy, adorable jerks.
As I sat at the vet on Saturday waiting to hear what was wrong with her, another cat owner sat down next to me to wait for his cat. We started chatting as a very sinister looking dog came in to been seen by one of the vets. The man's cat's name is Charlie so I'll refer to him as "Charlie's dad." The ER vet who took care of Pumpkin was also taking care of Charlie. Charlie got into a fight with something and had a nasty scratch on his face that looked like it was infected. Charlie's dad asked me how long I'd been waiting. I told him what was going on with Pumpkin and that I had been there for about three hours at this point. He asked me a bunch of questions about her, our life, and asked for some fun stories about her. I shared all of this as one proud cat parent to another. When I was finished he said to me, "We only need two things in life: beauty and inspiration. Cats provide both. Whatever you decide to do today will be the right thing for Pumpkin. You might not think so now and you can be sad but she was both of those things to you. Remember that." He proceeded to tell me that he may have broken the law by letting his cat out (and then it got in a fight) and recommended I adopt two cats when I adopt my next pet (which he knows I will do) since cats should have friends. Obviously.
Thank you to everyone who has reached out about Pumpkin. Your kinds words mean a lot to me. I'm so glad she provided so much entertainment, sass, and cuteness over the years. Please enjoy some more photos of Pumpkin but before you do, take a listen to my favorite song from the movie version of Annie. This is definitely a song about Pumpkin.
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