One Sided Love

I live upstairs from a grumpy cat. No, not the grumpy cat but rather a very neurotic, possibly bipolar cat.

Delilah the cat used to be owned by our neighbor across the way. When the neighbor died, Delilah was left here. No one claimed her. Our downstairs neighbor who had recently moved in, took the cat in. For the longest time, Delilah would visit her previous owner’s porch and wait.

This was 4 years ago. Now Delilah has bonded with her new owners. Delilah and I share the same outdoor space. She loves sleeping in the hibiscus plant (difficult to water with a cat in the pot) and lounging on the stairs (hard to pass when she flips out if I come towards her).  Delilah comes when the neighbor calls her. She just stares at me in contempt. Delilah meows for her owner. She only meows when I feed her from a safe distance and then she runs away.

I still think of Delilah as partly mine since my roommate and I have known her for seven years, longer than anyone else in the building. And yet, her most caring emotion is mild tolerance of me.

But every morning I say hello and often I take the long route to the mailbox just to look for her.

I love Delilah and I’m glad she tolerates me sometimes.

9 Comments

  1. Such a true slice of life. Cats are like our students sometimes, tolerating our love. I’m glad you sort of have a cat to love on though. Nice job of capturing the cat and you in this piece!

  2. I love the way you have captured that cat’s temperament so accurately. Cats definitely have strong opinions.

  3. Unconditional positive regard personified in a feline friend. Nice post – sweet it gave me a real sense of your simple relationship. Thank you.

  4. OH my!!! I can truly relate to this slice. Cats are so honest about how they feel about us. I’m glad that you have been able to look after Delilah and she looks after you.

    I love your voice! It’s so strong and musical.

  5. We’ve had many cats in our life but none were grumpy, moody cats. They were all like dogs to everyone, not just our family. However, I did have a really mean pet rabbit. It growled and could shred one with its back legs. Makes one wonder what causes that in a cat (or rabbit). Might make a good research project for a cat lover. Wonder if kids would have anything to say about a cat’s personality? Nice work on describing your grumpy neighbor with funny examples. D 🙂
    http://soaringteacher.blogspot.com/

  6. Love your post! You certainly captured Delilah and all her aloofness 🙂 My favorite line, “But every morning I say hello and often I take the long route to the mailbox just to look for her.” Your relationship with Delilah mirrors many moments in our life; sometimes we take the long route looking build our relationships. Thanks for sharing – you brought a smile to my face.

  7. Cats are strange, in general (says the person with the dogtrax avatar)
    🙂
    Kevin

  8. I’m glad you like/love her. Her hear must have been broken when her original owner died. I bet in time she will start to show you how much she really loves you!

  9. Thanks for sharing this. It makes me think it is a great thing to love for the sake of love even with little chance of reciprocity. I enjoyed reading this Slice of Life.

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