A Mouse in the House

Mouse settles us into our new Jacksonville apartment, January 2008

I dropped Chris off at the airport for SERE school, picked up the cats, and drove from Jacksonville to Texas in October 2008. Chris’ three guns were on my backseat. I don’t have any gun licenses and I was crossing state lines. I don’t know if that’s frowned upon or anything, but I started to wonder when I got pulled over in Louisiana. 

“ME-ow! ME-ow! ME-ow!!!” Mouse crawled from the trunk into the backseat (the armrest was down in the back) periodically to remind me he was grouchy. The policeman thought this was funny, told me to slow down, and wished us well in Japan. 

The cats drove my parents crazy throughout our three-week visit. They barfed on the carpet for no reason, plucked the carpet, and sneaked into their room in the middle of the night. The day Chris arrived, Mouse disappeared. I searched the entire house for him, but he seemed to have vanished! Chris was several pounds thinner from SERE school and looking forward to seeing all of us, but where was Mouse? 

It took a while, but I finally found him! 

The cats did not love the flight. Continental Airlines told me I had to ship them as cargo. That was not true, but I didn’t know, so that’s what we did. We flew 14 hours, then spent six more ferrying their paperwork from desk to desk in the cargo wing of Narita Airport. Then two more hours of meowing to the kennel. We found a house the next day, and visited them again the day after. Neither cat was happy. Not one bit. 

My friend Kelly rescued them and kept them at her house until ours was available. The cats had mellowed out a little by then, thanks to her sweet attentions to them. Then, finally, we got to bring them to our new Japanese home, just in time for Christmas. We were afraid Christmas away from our families would be sad, but it was cozy—our own adventure! 

2008

We were not prepared for Japanese winters. We were cold. The cats went into snuggle overdrive. It was awesome. Soon Japan started to feel like home. Kitties meowing at the door, and poking their heads through the shoji screens because they hear your scooter pull up and they want some more food, and getting underfoot trying to rush out the door to stretch and roll on the doorstep before getting shoo-ed back inside, and piling into your lap as soon as you sit anywhere, and sleeping on your ankles—well, that will make anywhere feel like home. 

Then it was time for Chris’ first deployment. What would I do alone in a foreign country for who knows how long and, at the time, unemployed?! I snuggled the cats. I held them through earthquakes, while reading emails from my husband that went, “my boss told me not to tell you until I got back, but we almost died last night…”, after sad news from far away, when I got the call about Grannie Annie, when I missed Chris. 

I left them with my friend Erin when I met Chris in Sasebo on our first port call. I dragged a suitcase for miles coming home. I hadn’t figured out the shortcuts yet, I guess. I got home, so much more tired than I expected, and wished my cats were home to great me instead of returning to a cold, empty house with a broken hot water heater. They were there at the door—Erin had dropped them off! I was too tired to do anything but fall on the couch. Too tired to turn on the tv. Both cats descended and purred and purred. They wouldn’t leave my side for days. 

My English students brought them foreign cat treats. My Japanese friend sang a song to them about cats under the kotatsu. They delighted my friends’ babies. They escaped and ran around the block, or over our blue roof tiles. They tussled and wrestled with each other, and meowed and purred for me. They always went into the shower room while it was wet and tracked paw prints all over the entryway. They got fur everywhere.

Don’t know what’s with the outfit, but see? cats: always underfoot! LOVE!

it’s usually warm in the kitchen

Japan 2010

Most of our Japan tour was pre-kids. So…we played a lot of games with the cats. Chris dressed up Pounce like a samurai. I put a feather collar on Mouse. I made them kimonos! I got this cool leather carpet bag at a shrine sale with old travel stickers and embossed with an M. Chris said M was for Mouse, put Mouse in it, carried him around, and broke it. I discovered I could attract Mouse with Mousetraps: any plastic bag. Why?! Both cats rubbed and rubbed against a vintage fishing float I brought home one month from the Yamato market.

Japan, August 2010

Japan, August 2010

When I found out I was pregnant with Isaac, we were so happy—and I felt like crap. Mouse, lover of kids and strangers, pushed out Pounce to become my personal hot water bottle cat. He sat right on my tummy and purred until the crampiness went away. Eventually Pounce came around, too. 

The cats could always tell when an earthquake was coming—we saw a lot of weird cat behavior a few hours beforehand. I was in Thailand on business during the 2011 earthquake north of our house, but the cats were there. I got back the next day and we ‘sheltered in place’ as per our instructions. Chris asked me to leave the country. 

I was going to leave the cats with him, but two days before I left, he said, “Um, our whole squadron is getting relocated north.” 

“What are you going to do with the cats?” 

“Actually now it’s what are YOU going to do with the cats….” 

I zipped to the Army base and got their exit paperwork. Nicole’s husband dropped Nicole, the cats and me at the bus stop and convinced them to take the cats on the bus to the airport (strictly not allowed…but just this once…). At the airport, Nicole waited with the cats while I bowed a lot and assured the lady that the guy on the phone said it was ok to have both cats in one carrier. They were letting a lot of things slide that week. The cats and I said goodbye to Nicole, and made it to Minneapolis, where we missed our flight. We were quickly rebooked to Austin or somewhere, where my sister and her husband would pick us up. 

I ran onto the plane, and waved down a flight attendant. 

“We just evacuated from Japan and missed our flight. Can you tell me if my cats made it onboard?” 

“I don’t think we have any pets onboard this plane. Just a minute.” 

I cried a little. 

“Are you Mari?” 

“Yes?” 

“Your cats are safely onboard.” She handed me a confirmation ticket. 

That night, I fell asleep in my old room at my parents’ house with both cats on my feet. Anytime one of them scratched, I’d wake up and think, “Is it another earthquake?! Oh, it’s the cats.”

They stayed at my parents’ house for nine months. My parents strongly encouraged me to make them outside cats. The cats themselves needed little encouragement. One morning I ate some yogurt and watched Mouse catch a bird. He raised a paw, the bird flapped, Mouse re-caught it. He was so excited about this he raised his paw again—the bird flew off, Mouse in pursuit. The squirrels were an ever-present adversary as well. My parents’ neighbor knocked on the door one afternoon and handed me Mouse’s collar. They’d found it way around the corner. The cats were certainly enjoying themselves. I cried when we returned home to Japan with no one to greet us at the door, to Chris’ annoyance.

We had Isaac, moved back to Florida, and drove to Texas in time for Thanksgiving. We were excited to introduce Isaac and the kitties. None of them were particularly excited, but it sure was nice to have a lap cat in front of the fire on cold mornings. Hannah and Justin brought us the cats about a week after we finally moved into our house.

“Happy to be here. Not so happy with…YOU,” says Mouse in Texas, March 2011.

Moving in again! Home in Pace, January, 2012

They loved being outside cats in Texas. In Florida, we started letting them out during the day, in the evening, and eventually, when we couldn’t stand the yowling at night anymore, all night. Our neighbor kids—Dillon and Faith—got to know the cats, Isaac, and us. Dillon wants to be a cat whisperer when he grows up. He’s always talking to Mouse and Pounce.

Home at last — Pace, January 2012

Isaac and Mouse were special buddies. Mouse walked slowly in front of a delighted, crawling Isaac. Isaac tried to catch Mouse’s tail as it flicked back and forth, peeking out from under the couch. Mouse always slept in Isaac’s room, under his crib, to my GREAT annoyance. When Mouse was done with his nap, he would yowl at the door and wake up the baby. So Isaac and I started checking under his bed for kitties as part of our nap time routine.

Isaac and I had to spend months at home this year after his surgery and the cats were part of our little household. Similarly, this summer, when I wasn’t feeling well, the cats piled onto me and purred their support.

By now it’s obvious where this post is going. Mouse started having trouble breathing this summer. I took him to the vet. They said he looked fine, and maybe he had kitty asthma. There was talk of a kitty inhaler. I thought that was absurd so they gave us anti-allergy pills and delicious pill pockets. Both the cats loved those. Then Mouse’s eye got teary. I wiped it; it seemed to get better. The morning of Isaac’s birthday party, Mouse’s eye bulged. We discussed an afternoon vet visit, but by the time we returned home it looked better.

Chris flew late Friday night. I let the cats in. Mouse stretched leisurely on the front step. His eye was teary again. I fed them spoiled kitten food (canned cat food) and they both slept in our room. Chris was delayed getting home, and having them there made me feel better. Saturday morning, we ran around getting the house ready for my sister’s visit. In the middle of it, we noticed Mouse looking miserable. Big eye, trouble breathing. He felt hot. Chris took him to the vet. An expensive round of tests showed Mouse’s discolored eye had a tumor. They proposed surgery to remove his eye, but said it might not be possible to remove all the tumor. And it might be cancerous anyway. He was in a lot of pain. Chris called me, and we decided to put Mouse down. We didn’t want him to suffer.

Buddies — Pace, February 2013

He had a good, exciting life with us. His eye has been discolored for years, so it seems like he defeated the tumor for a long time. We rescued him from the shelter in Pensacola, took him around the world to smell interesting smells, and we buried him here in our backyard, beneath the hibiscuses.

I miss seeing Mouse curled up napping on our bed, watching cartoons with Isaac. Mouse was so gentle with him, and I always pictured Mouse sleeping at Isaac’s feet once Isaac got a big boy bed. I feel such a sense of loss, and I think I’ll be mocked for years by my sister/parents for how much weeping there was during her visit.

I miss him. It’s hard. Pounce has been jumpy. The neighbor kids ask where Mouse is. Pounce sits near the spot where we buried Mouse. I get that he’s ‘just’ a cat—Just a cat who’s moved around the world with us, just a cat who comforted me when I was all alone, just a cat who I’ve spent more time with than any other critter over the last seven years, except possibly Pounce. Just a Very Important Mouse.

Buddies — Pace,  Isaac’s second birthday

“Many people grieve deeply when their pets die. Some have told me they’re embarrassed or even ashamed at this. Their loss is great, and they long for hope that they’ll see their pets again.
If we regard pets as God-created companions entrusted to our care, it’s only right that we should experience grief at their loss. Who made these endearing qualities in animals? God. Who made us to be touched by them? God. Do we love animals because of sin and the Curse? No. We love animals because God created us–and them–to love each other. We can turn people into idols, but it doesn’t mean it’s wrong to love people. The same is true of animals.
We know the stories of pets who’ve risked their lives and died for their owners because the animals’ instinct for love and loyalty outweighed their instinct for self-preservation. It’s noble for a person to lay down his or her life for others, so animals who do the same must also be noble. We needn’t be embarrassed either to grieve their loss or to want to see them again. If we believe God is their creator, that he loves us and them, that he intends to restore his creatures from the bondage they experienced because of our sin, then we have biblical grounds for not only wanting but also expecting that we may be with them again on the New Earth.”
~ “Heaven,” by Randy Alcorn, p. 401

sometimes it feels like he’s still with us….