Exactly 39 Years Ago . . .
I was frantic today to find someone good to take care of my cats while I go to Florida. Then it hit me: it was Thanksgiving 1971 when a friend who had been looking for a pretext to introduce us anyway thought she had found it in the fact that Jacques Sandulescu was going away for Thanksgiving and needed someone to feed his cats.
Unfortunately, I was also going away for Thanksgiving and needed someone to feed my cats. So that didn’t work out. We wouldn’t meet till the following March. But I did exchange a few words with this exotic character on the phone. Since he was from Transylvania and had a rich accent, I imagined him in a black cloak, looking suave and smoldering like Dracula. (In reality, he looked more like Frankenstein if the operation had been a smashing success.)
Thirty-nine years later, and I’m STILL looking for someone to feed my cats. Different cats. Same problem. Full circle.
First contact to last: exactly 39 years.
P.S.: I found someone to feed the cats.
Ambiance 
amba12 said,
November 23, 2010 at 2:51 am
It occurs to me we had damn near 39 cats over those years, too.
Let’s see:
Susu, Kinky, Fuzzy, Buxi, Loudmouth, Tiny, Gita, Mighty Sparrow, Olly, Timmy, Minnow, Bumblebee, Pat and Emmet, Daisy, Lola, Maria, Dusty Marie, Peachy, Worry, Cubby, Snickety Kid, Moustache Pete, Sissy, Mini-Runty, Tiger Lily, Spooky, Blueberry, Kobe, Cowboy, Lucky, Nicky, Lightnin’, Harley, BiDi, Chili, Dusky Sparrow, Max, Bandito, Buzzy, Rainy . . .
41 cats in 39 years!! (Not counting all the kittens we gave away.)
Ron said,
November 23, 2010 at 3:12 am
have a good trip to Florida! You are always welcome here….
That you remember all their names….they need a YouTube video…
amba12 said,
November 23, 2010 at 11:46 am
For the record, I didn’t really want to have that many cats. I’m a “few and deep” sort of person…or I was. J enlarged my capacity quite a bit. But to him, it was “the more the merrier.” We kept both our apartments for years so we had 2 separate cat families. The group in his old apartment got some bad viruses (leukemia, FIV, FIP) so we kept them strictly separate.
Icepick said,
November 23, 2010 at 11:49 am
If you end up in Orlando (unlikely, I know) you can look us up.
amba12 said,
November 23, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Well, I’m probably going to be in Gainesville around Christmas! How far is that?
Melinda said,
November 23, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Have a good time in Florida with the folks.
And when I started reading your post, I thought to myself, “full circle,” and then I saw that you wrote it and this confirmed that GMTA.
Peter Hoh said,
November 23, 2010 at 1:57 pm
And so it goes.
amba12 said,
November 23, 2010 at 2:26 pm
I haven’t heard anyone ask whether we’re all in the same karass. Or is the Althouse community a granfalloon??
Icepick said,
November 23, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Gainesville is about two hours away by car. Not far but also not close. We may be traveling up to Columbus GA around that however, so depending on details we might be able to meet you somewhere.
amba12 said,
November 23, 2010 at 2:29 pm
As the time nears, we’ll zero in on it. I almost feel as if I’ve already met you. I want to meet Kim!
justkim said,
November 23, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Oh, the pressure! I hope we can make it work. I would love to share the baby snuggles with you.
Also, I haven’t posted in other threads, but I am deeply sorry for your loss. From the little I know, it seems J was a great man, and your love for him is truly inspiring.