Lucy, from “Humbling and Humility”

A Feral Family Member

And so, Lucy, her parental duties in life complete, moved in with us. After a few scratches she inflicted on us at first, she learned on her own to keep her claws retracted when swiping at us, if we ventured too close, and eventually learned not to swipe at us at all. She soon selected a few favorite lounging locations, explored the beds and little enclosures my daughter arranged for her, and chose the kids’ bunk bed’s upper bed as her own.

She also learned to do her excretion outside, and to ask us to open doors for her, and climb our apple tree in the backyard to get onto our balcony. I fixed a cat door section to the balcony’s sliding glass door, and she learned, with much coaching and coaxing in this instance, to push through the magnetic flap to get in or out.

But most of all, she learned to be a companion to my daughter, who often declared, at times of stress or anguish, that Lucy was her only friend in the world. In her evident affection for us, and in caring for her too, Lucy greatly comforted my children. As is the Ragdoll‘s nature, she followed us on walks in the neighborhood, and would run after my son when he’d run back to his mother’s after dinner with me. But she always did come back home, as did my children, if only to see her.

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From “Humbling and Humility“