{"id":1164,"date":"2008-06-09T00:15:02","date_gmt":"2008-06-09T04:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/?p=1164"},"modified":"2008-06-09T00:16:46","modified_gmt":"2008-06-09T04:16:46","slug":"cats-and-not-the-annoying-live-kind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/?p=1164","title":{"rendered":"Cats… and not the annoying, live kind"},"content":{"rendered":"

My brain seems to be in hibernation, so I’m going to be doing some Show and Tell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is my cat collection. It would seem like a whole bunch of stuffed animals would not have been among the items I stuffed into my two large suitcases and a couple of spare boxes as I prepared to move to a different country, but that’s precisely what I did.<\/p>\n

It started when I was 12. Shortly before my birthday I came across a stuffed leopard in a store (in the picture he is the tallest one in the back). I wanted it, and I pointed it out. I did not get it that day. But I was awoken on my birthday by my younger brother dropping a squishy wrapped present on my head. It wasn’t even in a box, just wrapping paper in a stuffed-animal shape. It was, of course, the leopard I wanted so badly.<\/p>\n

I named him King Leopie (pronounced “LEP-ee”), and he was not quickly forgotten like most toys children get on their birthdays. I slept with him tucked under my arm every night from that day forward for many years.<\/p>\n

Over the years I collected more cats, among them a white leopard I named Queen Amarylla (to the left of King Leopie in the photo). By that point poor King Leopie was looking pretty roughed up, so I switched to sleeping with her. Later I added a white tiger, whom I named Raja (to the right of King Leopie). Now I had realized that Queen Amarylla was looking dingy too, and I didn’t want to do that to poor Raja, so he’s only been squashed at night a couple of times. Many of the cats have stories: the cat with wings is from DCon; the orange tiger used to be my brother’s (but he gave it to me, because I liked cats far more than he did). Many of them I have long since forgotten how they came to be in my possession. Whenever I see a cat in a store I have to decide if it’s special enough to add to my collection. I’ve learned to be more discerning.<\/p>\n

I no longer sleep with a stuffed animal clutched tight to me, though it was very hard to break myself of the habit. It still feels like I need something in the crook of my arm – there seems to be a space there just begging for something soft and comforting.<\/p>\n

King Leopie will always be the most important of the group, though no one would probably guess from looking at him. Or maybe they would – he has that worn look of something well-loved. Such a small gift, an odd gift for a 12 year old… and yet here I am, 13 years later. He’s been with me for over half my life.<\/p>\n

::<\/p>\n

Next week I’ll tell you the story of the sheep. Promise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My brain seems to be in hibernation, so I’m going to be doing some Show and Tell. This is my cat collection. It would seem like a whole bunch of stuffed animals would not have been among the items I stuffed into my two large suitcases and a couple of spare boxes as I prepared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-1164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-show-and-tell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}