By Vicki Scott
At our lake house we have a cat named Estelle, whom we call Stella. Against our wishes, our daughter Eva brought Stella home, thinking she was going to raise Stella in her room. After a few weeks of Stella waking her up in the wee hours, Eva found a nice spot for the cat under the porch in a little house. Stella was around when Eva started dating her present husband. It’s too bad she bit him and quickly became our cat when they married.
Stella has been through some stuff. She was in the motor of my car one time when I cranked it. I thought she was a goner. She healed up nicely, though, even after I tripped and fell on her while trying to take her to her house. Stella lived through college years when we moved up here to Glencoe, and she had to babysit our two children. Stella is a little psychedelic now, and sometimes we call her the psycho cat. She is tough, but she keeps us as hers.
Stella is in charge. When she comes to the door and lets herself in, we know she wants us to feed her. We know we better, or else. Sometimes Stella just wants attention, and we love those times. When we walk, she will follow in the woods like a stalker. We only give her attention when she wants attention, and we feel honored that Stella chose our family. We did not deserve her, but we did not deserve Grace, either, and here we are.
When she wants in the house, Stella runs past you when you open the door. Sometimes we do not realize she got in the house, and she will stay all day. Stella does not like to stay in the house all day, however, and will do things to the one who she thinks did her wrong.
This time it was our oldest granddaughter, Ava Jaymes. She is sleeping in Eva’s old room, and Stella will go in there from time to time and sleep on Ava’s bed. When she was left in the house, Stella left a deposit on her bed. I am assuming the bed was not made, because no one realized what Stella did.
Ava noticed that something did not smell right in her bed and sought advice from her mother. Eva found Stella’s deposit, and blamed Ava. Ava protested that she did not do it, but her mother was insistent. As Ava was pleading with her mother to believe her, Eva chastised Ava and told her to get herself up and go to the bathroom if she had to go.
Our son Joseph saw the deposit and named Stella as the culprit. Eva felt so bad. She begged for forgiveness, but Ava just looked the other way. I might be biased, but Ava Jaymes is sweet, forgiving and beautiful.
It was with great honor to watch sweet Ava Jaymes win the Miss Junior Panacea award and Best in Class award in the pageant last Saturday. In her introduction, Ava mentioned Stella, her cat. Congratulations, Ava Jaymes. You were a winner before you ever stepped on that stage. Nana and Papa love you so much….and Stella, too!