K is for Kiara

Last year, I saw that some friends of mine were doing a "Blogging Through the Alphabet" each week and at that time, they were quite a ways through it. Somehow, I totally missed when it started back up.  However, I'm jumping into it with week 11 and the letter K and hopefully will remember to blog for this linkup each week.  Be sure to check out the blogs Through the Calm and Through the Storm and  Adventures with Jude who are hosting this particular linkup.


K is for Kiara

When my oldest daughter who is now 16 turned 4, she asked for a kitten for her birthday.  A friend of ours had recently adopted two kittens from a local shelter in Houston and suggested that I might wan to check them out as well as for a very reasonable price we could get a kitten who already had all their shots and was also fixed.  So one weekend in June, Alyssa and I drove down to Citizens for Animal Protection (CAP) on the Katy Freeway in Houston, Texas to pick out her new pet.   As we browsed the multiple cages of available kittens, one particular tortoiseshell fluffball caught my eye. She was the absolute cutest thing I had ever seen.  I pointed her out to Alyssa but Lyss had her eyes on another kitten and wouldn't be swayed.  Heartbroken, I honestly thought I would have to leave the Torti behind.

My girlie.. Cloudy Eyes and All

However, as luck would have it, CAP was having an adoption special that weekend.  You could get two kittens for the 60 dollar adoption fee.   We walked out of there with Alyssa's selected kitten as well as my own fluffy kitten to add into our home.  We named the kittens Nala and Kiara, after the two female lionesses from the Lion King.

Unfortunately, Nala is no longer with us, however, Kiara is still a member of our household. We usually just call her Keekee for short.  She is no longer the tiny ball of fluff she was on that summer day in 2003 but is instead a very large and lazy furry butt who can usually be found on the foot of my bed relaxing in her senior years.  She's mostly blind now due to cataracts but still gets around plenty.  With exception of her eyesight and some arthritis making it hard for her to jump, she's in very good health for being an almost 13 year old cat.

Kiara About 7 Years Ago

Kiara has been my baby since the day we brought her home.  Until she started having trouble jumping, she was often found sitting on my lap every night while I watched TV. Now she is happy on the floor near me.  Ever night when I'm falling asleep, she wakes me up as she's climbing into bed and I feel the weight of her settling on my feet. She likes to sleep with at least part of her body on top of mine and I often have to move her off my legs/feet.

I know one day she will leave us to join Stormy at the Rainbow Bridge.  Stormy was my very first cat whom lived to be 20 and was Keekee's companion for her first 7 years.  While I would love for Keekee to live as long as Storm did, I don't know if it will be in her cards or not. But I know that every day she is with us, she is loved and she has reciprocated that love and brought so much joy into our lives.