Ella’s ears are still pointy, that much hasn’t changed. What has changed is Ella no longer is a kitten, she’s a full grown cat.

Ella was once a foster cat. Eight years ago we took her in on a trial basis, fell immediately in love and decided to adopt her. The first thing that grabbed me about Ella was those pointy ears. When she was a kitten her ears were disproportionately large for her tiny body. They loomed above the top of her head, concave like  bandshells, coming to a sharp point at the top. From the summit of each of her ears sits a tiny tuft of hair. Back then Ella looked like one of those long-eared bats that live in the tropics, her tiny head and large ears were comical and cute at the same time. As an adult, her body has since grown into those ears, but they still look kind of big to me.

Ella is a light tabby. There are hints of stripes along the last six inches of her tail as well as on her haunches. Her feet and the tip of her tail are slightly lighter than the rest of her body, otherwise her fur is a uniform light brown to blonde color and lustrous with health.

Ella’s eyes are a luminous shade of green similar to the polished sea stones of serpentine that are commonly found along the Northern California coast. The cornea of her left eye is partially clouded over, kind of like a cataract. Ella’s view of the world must be a little out of focus.

While she has grown a bit more feisty with age, occasionally swatting at us when she doesn’t want to be bothered, Ella is still an even tempered and very affectionate cat. She often greets me by climbing into my lap, gradually making her way onto my chest until we’re nose-to-nose. We give each other “Eskimo kisses”. She sometimes licks the end of my nose with her sandpaper tongue. I tell her, “I love you too.” I know she understands me.

Ella loves tummy rubs. In the evening when Carol and I are on the couch reading or watching television, she’ll often end up spread eagle on her back in Carol’s lap. Ella purrs with feline ecstasy and is nearly comatose while the tummy rub is being administered.

Cats are by nature quite independent, but Ella does not like it when we go away. A day or so before a trip, she just knows we’re going to be gone. While we pack the car and scurry around the house making last minute preparations, she is clearly agitated. She’ll follow us around the house and has even jumped into the car! We leave Ella alone if we’re gone for two or three days, any longer than that and we have our neighbor stay at our house and cat sit. Ella is a very social kitty and really needs someone to be with her. When we return home, she is almost always waiting for us in the driveway.

I adore Ella, but there’s a bit of irony here. I was never a cat person, however successive girlfriends in the mid to late 90’s would have it otherwise. When I met and fell in love with Carol in the spring of 2001, her cat Bugsy was part of the deal. Bugsy was a gentle soul who helped me to see the sweet side of cat ownership. She lived a long and full life and the day we had to put her down was a sad one indeed. Bugsy now rests in our backyard beneath a circle of sea stones, surrounded by purple irises that bloom every spring.

When Bugsy passed she was nearly eighteen years old. Ella is eight now so with a little luck we’ll have her around for another decade. Relative to humans a cats’ life is short. That fact gives me a deeper appreciation for every day that Ella is in our lives. Some say that a cat chooses you. I am so grateful that Ella chose us.