We liked him so much that we made a person for him to cuddle with.

It’s now been almost a year since Oberon literally strolled into our house and became part of the family.

A couple of friends recently floated the idea of getting together for lunch, like we did almost a year ago; I sheepishly told them I’d either need to sit this one out, or someone would have to foot my lunch bill since I’m broke. I also mentioned that a day after last year’s not-quite-Christmastime lunch, I adopted an extra cat, put myself in harm’s way trying to save a drowning horse, decided to shoot my nearly-20-year career in the head, and conceived a child, so maybe this year I need to get something other than the half-pound cheeseburgerzilla.

It’s hard to really nail down how much my life changed as a result of that one day. I mean, we can sit here and have conversations about days that changed everything, but that one was a bit of a doozy. While it was a while before we knew what the really good news was, Obi seemed like the best thing to come out of that day. He’s such a laid back and – let’s face it – submissive and unaggressive cat that he managed the impossible: he got not only Olivia (who loves everybody) to like him, but Othello (who’s a teenager in human years and doesn’t accept new faces or major changes gracefully) too. Even Xena liked him. The only new addition to the family who’s ever managed to win the same kind of universal acceptance as Oberon has been Evan.

I’m glad Oberon is here. While it’s sometimes crazy to contemplate that we have three cats once again, and the latest addition is a somewhat dimwitted one who likes to run outside at random intervals, it’s hard to imagine the last time our home was this happy…for the kitties and for everyone else too.