April 2007

Dear Friends,

Saludos! In my last message to you I recounted the whole adventure of finding my new cat Chelo and the subsequent steps I took to bring him home with me. Since then I received a lot of great feedback from readers who identified with the story and are also concerned with the problem of stray animals. I’m sure these people share my concern and the heartbreak of this issue, so I decided to give you all a follow up on Chelo’s progress here on the mainland.

I am overjoyed and grateful for the happy ending to this particular story. I am pleased to report that Chelo is doing beautifully. He is an unstoppable 8-pound hurricane that takes breaks only to eat (and yes, he still eats everyone else’s food first before digging into his own dish!).

His daily routine begins with a wrestling match with Ricky. It goes on until I turn on the faucet in my bathroom which captivates him with the spiral of water going down the drain. He then runs all over the house finding new ways to entertain himself while the other two cats look at him in disbelief.

He is by no means as graceful as other cats that are mindful of their surroundings. He walks all over my computer or simply lies down on the keyboard. Even turning off the lights at night is no guarantee he will settle down. Instead he finds new games that require lots of running from one side of the house to the other. And just when I’m settling comfortably in my bed, he decides it’s the perfect time to come and play with me.

Just like the classic movie Bringing Up Baby in which Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn try to raise a pet leopard, not realizing the consequences of having a wild animal around the house, I brace myself every time he is out from under my watchful eye because, as I have learned, a moment of silence with Chelo is not a good thing!

As he continues to evolve, his physical and inner beauty are developing nicely as well. Ricky, the most gentle of all cats, has accepted him as a playmate and Bolita no longer threatens him within an inch of his life anymore (although she still looks upon him as a huge inconvenience).

In this new chapter of my life, I am grateful for this new spring season and for Chelo who makes me start each day with a heartfelt smile.

Edwin