Lilly's Big Adventure

I realized I haven't written much about our cat and first child Lilly. That's probably because I started blogging right about the time I found out I was pregnant and the upcoming baby is more exciting than the cat we've had for three years. (I can foresee some jealousy issues on Lilly's behalf when the baby comes home). Anyway, Lilly was found abandoned in a box on 6th Street (the bar-filled party street in Austin) my junior year in college. I begged my parents for extra money so I could have her vaccinated and spayed and being the big animal lovers they are, they put a check in the mail. She weighed less than half a pound and I had to bottle feed her special formula- now she's a hefty 13 lbs. with a tummy that wobbles back and forth when she trots around the apartment. She's a weird cat who fears no one and takes an unusual interest in the people that visit our apartment- she usually stands up on her back 2 legs to check them out.

Her recent love is my pregnancy clothes with all their ties in the back (did you know that Every maternity top ties in the back?). Because sitting up against a knot all day gets uncomfortable, I usually untie my shirts when I'm sitting down. I almost always forget to re-tie them and Lilly comes at me in full attack mode when I get up to do something in the apartment. She loves lying on her back in my closet batting at all the ties coming off my shirts. Seeing as this is the only exercise she gets all day I don't really mind. In fact, she'd come in quite handy at school because I end up walking to classes with strings hanging off the back of my shirt and no one tells me. However, given her most recent dinner party experience, she's better off at home.

Anyway- the point of this post- this morning I opened our front door to take out the trash and Lilly, who normally shows no interest in the world beyond our apartment, took off through my legs at full speed. I haven't seen her run that fast in over a year. I think she had been planning this escape for months and this morning was Her Morning. She galloped out, tummy swaying, to the main hallway, turned the corner and headed to the far side. I chased after her and when I cornered her, her tail got pooffy, all her fur stood on end, and she dashed between my legs. This was her one big chance at freedom and she was not going down easily. Then some people she'd never seen before opened their front door. That scared the crap out of her- her tail got bigger, her ears flattened against the side of her head, and she took off back in the direction of our apartment. She ran through the open door, jumped on the couch, curled up in a ball, looked around with a look of triumph, and then proceeded to thoroughly clean her feet.

I have a feeling that this was the most exciting day of her life.