My Mother always told us when we were growing up that pets did not belong in the house. I agreed with her completely. So when my roommate’s cat was following me around the apartment all I could think of was that cat hair was going to get on my clothes and why would anyone want to clean out a cat litter box? His name was Ludwig and he went by Ludie and I had to close my bedroom door to keep him out of my room and off of my bed!

A friend of mine told me that cats pick their caretakers but I was oblivious to this information at the time. As far as I was concerned Ludwig was stalking me. He waited outside my bedroom door for me to come out every morning and followed me around the apartment. When I would sit down he would climb into my lap, start purring and snuggle cozily into a deep sleep. He would post himself on furniture and as I would pass by, he would meow at me to stop and pet him and reach out with a paw to try and catch me. I couldn’t get rid of him. It was ridiculous.

Time past and there I was cleaning out a cat litter box and purchasing cat food from the grocery store when my room mate neglected to keep up. I cant even tell you how it happened but before I even realized it there was this white fur ball sleeping next to my pillow every night and purring very loudly. I moved out and got my own apartment and I asked my friend if I could have the cat but he said no.

After I moved into a new apartment I missed the cat believe it or not. But there was nothing I could do. At Christmas time I received a card from one of my sisters with a 100 dollar bill in it. There were specific instructions inside of the card that stated I was not to pay bills with the money but to use the dough for something extra that I wanted. I wasn’t needy for anything so I got this idea that I would send a note in the mail to my X roommate and ask him if he would sell Ludie the cat to me for 100 dollars.

When Ludie came out of the cardboard box in his new apartment he sat with perfect posture and just meowed at me to pet him. The first week he was there he woke me up at 3 a.m. to pet him. He was about 6 years old at the time. For the next twelve and a half years he slept next to my pillow every night purring us both to sleep.

When I would stay up too late at night he would sit in front of me with perfect posture and meow at me as if to ask “Isnt it time to go to sleep?” and I would answer him yes, yes, yes and off to bed I went with him following me and taking his spot next to my pillow to motor purr into sleep.

The cat became very ill with diabetes. He lost weight and looked wretched. I didn’t want to lose my best friend so I took him to the Vet. The Vet wanted me to give the cat insulin shots everyday. I pictured myself chasing this cat around my apartment and torturing the poor thing by jabbing him with a needle. That is not what happened though. What happened was I started giving the cat insulin shots twice a day and he started to look and act healthy again. When I would lose track of the time or get home late from work, Ludie would come up to me, sit in front of me with perfect posture and politely meow for his shot. We did that for six years. Cats don’t usually live more than two more years with diabetes so I was very lucky. He died rather peacefully at 18 ½ years old. I was sad to lose my best friend.

Although I dated and socialized quite a bit I never married. I suppose if I could have turned my beloved Ludwig into a marriage partner that such an angelic creature would have made quite a good spouse. Like kissing a frog to turn into a prince. But that is just a fairy tale. I don’t think it is sad that I never married. I think it would be sad if I didn’t find something to love with all of my heart. There is something much worse than a woman that never found her lover and that would be a woman that did not find something to love at all.

— Lynn from Mount Olive, IL