Crazy Cat Lady by Amie Denman



For fun, someone in my family (it might have been me) bought a car magnet with a giant pink paw print and the words "Crazy Cat Lady" and put it on my sister's car. For information's sake, you should know my sister has a master's degree and a dozen cats and an academic sense of humor about her role in feeding the feline population in our town. The "Crazy Cat Lady" placard is intended as a bumper sticker, but it's magnetic. Which means...its ownership is transferable. Highly transferable. My sister laughed about it, and then decided we should all enjoy a taste of the unexpected. No one in the family is safe. My teenage son found the magnet on the back of his rusty silver pickup truck. My husband has discovered it on his shiny blue pickup truck. My parents have temporarily displayed it on their vehicle. My brother-in-law drove to work for a week with it. And...it's currently on my car.


It's a badge of honor. We pass things around in my family. Ridiculous things.

For quite some time, there has been a small resin Jesus that glows in the dark and makes his way into the strangest places. He was originally discovered in a flower bed when one of my sisters was doing her spring planting, and since then he's enjoyed wearing seasonal decorations and showing up unexpectedly in purses, kitchen cabinets, cup holders in cars, toolboxes, and underwear drawers. It's a badge of honor and responsibility to be the current holder of plastic glow-in-the-dark Jesus.

When I was a teenager, my dad must have run across a sale on inflatable pool toys at the end of summer. It was never a surprise to find a giant life ring on the front grill of your car, or an inflatable alligator taking up the entire interior. I went to college several hours away from home, but I'll never forget the day I came out of class and knew my parents had been there by the inflatable chicken they left in the driver's seat of my car.

That's true love.

Have a great summer, and if you see someone with a "Crazy Cat Lady" magnet on the back of their car, wave and smile and wonder if they know it's there.

By the way, the picture at the top is my beloved cat Bert. He's not the only cat in my house...


Comments

  1. What a fun, family tradition! Three cats in our household. I need a bumper sticker: Crazy Cat Daughter.

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  2. I enjoyed this post, Amie. I know a family,who pass around a rubber chicken at various birthday and other celebrations. My mother had a cat phobia so we never had cats, only dogs, and when my daughter moved in with her partner and got a kitten, I reminded her that we were not “cat people”. But she has proven me wrong...as has the cat, Felix, because we all love him and his quirky feline ways. Now there are Felix stories to tell when the family is together.

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    1. My mom had neighbors who weren't at all cat people either and suddenly they invited not one but at least three cats into their lives. The dog seemed to get along with them so it worked out pretty well.

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  3. How cute! I want to be in your family. ☺️

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  4. Love the story and I love the spot on Bert's face. My cat has more than one interesting spot and streak, one spot is on her nose. I've also gotten to know some of the cats I meet out walking. I have names for them and worry if I don't seem them for a while. There's a few dogs who get the same attention. Thanks for the post!

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  5. We were cat and dog people, but currently I don't have an animal. I so enjoy hearing about everyone else's . I love the fun items your family passes around. I once knew a family that passed around a box of prunes all wrapped up nice and neat on a family member's birthday. One even had it delivered to a workplace via courier. It was so funny and those outside the family called them petrified prunes after about the 4th year. Just keep on enjoying life.

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  6. Bert is quite handsome, especially the beauty mark on his face. I love your family tradition of passing things around. My MIL and family used to slip a ceramic frog back and forth. The magnet is best, though, because it's so transferable. Great stories.

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  7. Will you adopt me? I want to be part of your family. :) What fun family traditions!

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  8. What a fun family! And I love your kitty.

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  9. This is so cute! My family has been known to partake in similar hi-jinks. In fact, I'm loving the inflatable pool toy idea...

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