It's Gracie's turn...

Here's Gracie! It's finally Gracie's turn for the spotlight on this blog. I was thinking about what I should write about tonight and I thought of Gracie. Then I started feeling guilty about having a whole blog named after Otis and writing about him all the time. So tonight, it's all about Gracie. It's kind of a cool story how Gracie came into my life. Let me share it with you...

Many, many years ago, I got my senior portraits taken. At my photo shoot, there was a litter of kittens. I asked the photographer if I could get some photos taken with them. The photographer kind of laughed and said, "Of course." He said that the kittens were from his house and he brings them with him to the studio for the photos he does with little kids. But I wanted the cats in my photos, so he had no objections. He actually asked if I wanted one, but since I lived with my parents and had a dog at home, I knew that a kitten was out of the question....so I had to say no.

Fast forward a couple of years later to when Stevie getting her senior portraits. She went to the same studio as me and wanted me to go with her. She had the same photographer as me. Even though it was a couple of years later, he remembered my photo shoot. He commented that he should have brought the kittens today. Apparently, he had another litter at his home. He asked again if I wanted one. I thought about it. At this point in time, I was just about to move in with my sister, Rachel, and had no reason to say no. I had always wanted a cat and really liked the ones he had before. So it was a totally spur of the moment thing. I said, "yes," and later that day, my friend Michelle and I were driving down to Lakeville to pick up my new kitten.

I named her Gracie, because her fur is gray and the name was my favorite at the time. She's turned into a pretty large (fat) cat. She's very protective of me and her home. She really does not like kids and strangers (especially male strangers). In fact, it took her many months to warm up to Dave....maybe even years before she would jump onto his lap. The interesting thing about her is that when there are new people around, she doesn't run and hide like most cats. Instead, she sits there and hisses, defending her territory. She freaks out most everyone. Both my nieces say, "I don't like Gracie. She goes hissss."

Actually, having Otis around has warmed Gracie's heart a million times. She really doesn't like to put up with Otis' teasing, but she does and also has learned that she isn't the queen of the house. She's learned that if she wants people to like her and pet her, then she needs to treat them nicely (and not hiss). She's mellowed out a bit and doesn't get so stressed and anxious and puke everytime we have company. She has even started letting some guests pet her. But if she had a choice of whether or not Otis stayed or left...she'd probably want Otis to leave. I think that's normal sibling rivalry, right? Haha.