I always think it odd that I never cry in public despite being such a sensitive girl.
But I had several dazzling performances of public weeping on Wednesday night. Here’s the story.
With life moving into high-drive because our Cree Mansion rental suite has been sold off for development, Craig and I had to push all of our plans forward by a month.
That has meant finding a real place up here, getting the house in Vancouver packed up and getting my cat and belongings all the way up to Prince Rupert.
There have been many sticky points in the logistics. Truly, Prince Rupert is very far away. But so far the most trying bit has been Ciao Ciao.
Ciao Ciao is a tough cat. An alley cat hailing from the mean streets of Commercial Drive. He befriended me as a kitten, showing up wet and bedraggled on my porch, and has stuck by me ever since. That’s despite moving seven times, dragging him to Vancouver Island and back again, and abandoning him for months on end.
One word will describe him: resilient.
But for all of his tomcat ways, he is not a traveller, at least in the human understanding of the word. When it comes to moving he is, in fact, quite pitiable. He pants, shivers and meows terribly. It’s enough to make any surrogate mother wince.
So, I had many a nightmare about the necessity of taking him all the way here. Whether it be by ferry, car or plane. It would be miserable no matter what.
But since the plane would be 5-6 hours as opposed to 20, I opted to send my kitten into the air. Besides which, he’s done the ferry and car thing already — why not try something new.
What a horror story. With all the rules and regulation Ciao Ciao and I almost missed the plane.
Much to my chagrin I had to remove said alley cat from his pet box to carry him through security! Then I had to stuff him back into the box amidst hundreds of other harried travellers.
Then it was a fast dash with a fat cat down a very long hallway to get to the plane.
Once there they told me I’d have to put my precious cat into the baggage hold! But they weren’t sure there was room for him!
Now all that’s going through my mind at this point is a recent news story in which a Smithers man took Air Canada to court because his dog died en route in the baggage hold!
As they marched Ciao Ciao away, I cried fat tears right there on the tarmac, with a plane load of bored people peering at me through their tiny windows.
I boarded the plane with as much dignity as I could spare and felt irked by the world.
The two hours passed and Ciao Ciao emerged relatively unscathed from the experience. Hallelujah, the worst was over. Now I’d have him by me on the bus that takes us onto the ferry to head across the water to Prince Rupert.
Sadly, my thoughts were misguided. The bus driver was very rule abiding saying people (all 5 of us) might be allergic to the cat. He’d have to go into the baggage below the bus!
Take two of crying in front of strangers. This time I tried to work it to soften the bus driver. He wasn’t biting. I pleaded with him to open the baggage compartment on the ferry so my cat wouldn’t perish from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Ciao Ciao made it across in the third-world style bus and a groaning ferry. I almost didn’t.
We got home and I thought I’d cry all night. Ciao Ciao, on the other hand, stepped gingerly out of his cat carrier, flopped on the ground and began cleaning himself as though the last 5 hours had never happened.
And so I take a lesson from the cat who flew. Stay mellow and stay fiesty and, one way or another, you’ll be just fine.
Watermark 
and how about you?