A Cozy Creative Life

Sometimes the most important things in our lives begin with a very ordinary moment.

For me, one of those moments happened in my art room.

I was teaching art one day when Rachel, one of my fifth-grade students raised her hand.

I assumed she had a question about the lesson.

She didn’t.

Her cat had just had kittens and Rachel wanted to know if I would like one.

I did.

That evening, a friend and I went to Rachel’s house to see the kittens. We each chose one.

The kitten I chose was unusual looking, but beautiful.

She had long black-and-white fur, with much more black than white. Her face was asymmetrical, and her little black nose almost disappeared into the dark fur around it. Sometimes it was difficult to tell what kind of expression she was making.

That only made her more adorable.

She was so tiny I could hold her in one hand. Little tufts of fur stuck out from her paws, and she had a long fluffy tail and the tiniest meow.

I named her Muffy.

When I was a little girl, I had a big furry white muffin that I loved to use in the winter to keep my hands warm. This fluffy little kitten reminded me of it, and the named seemed just right.

Although she was tiny, Muffy certainly wasn’t timid.

She was feisty, sweet and full of surprises. She would race around and spin like a top. Sometimes she dashed toward a doorway and suddenly leaped into the air as though she were trying to catch something only she could see.

She was also an excellent fly catcher.

And, as I would discover later, she could catch considerably larger things too.

But’s that’s another story.

Muffy was the first cat who was completely mine.

She came home with me to my first apartment, slept with me every night and eventually followed me through two more apartments and two houses.

She was with me for more than sixteen years.

All because one day, a fifth-grade girl named Rachel raised her hand in my art room.

She didn’t have a question about art.

She had a kitten who needed a home.

And I had no idea just how much that little kitten would become a part of my life.