This morning, I was sitting on our bed, feeding baby Nate and Will comes into the room. He has got a big smile on his face, which means he must have gotten a full night’s sleep; always a good sign. He hops on the bed to join Nathan and me. The two start giggling and playing together, part of their normal morning brotherly routine.
Meanwhile, our elderly cat starts loudly meowing at the bottom of the stairs. Our sweet cat, Nevan, is probably close to 14 years old. I say probably because I adopted him around the time he was maybe 2 to 3 years old. He is a gentle, fairly large orange tabby cat that I rescued back in my days of singledom; he came with the name Nevan and it just stuck. This poor boy has been through multiple moves, and since adopting him I have now acquired a husband and have added two kids into the mix. He has witnessed it all and still remains the most loving, patient and gentle cat, even with small kids. Despite Nathan always trying to eat his tail, Nate may be Nevan’s favorite simply because Nate shows him the most attention.
Anyway, the cat is old, and I am fairly certain he is losing his hearing. His meows, which used to be somewhat endearing, are now more of a howl. I have accidentally snuck up on him a few times, all because he failed to hear me approach him. Since he was howling up the stairs, it was clear to me that he was searching for us but could not hear where we were. I told Will to run to the top of the steps and signal to Nevan that we were upstairs, and Will gladly obliged. The cat quickly raced up the steps, and before long he was cuddling and purring against us on the bed. I began to tell Will that Nevan is an older kitty, and most likely is losing his hearing. Will replied, in his typical 4-year old response “Why Mommy? Why is he losing his hearing?” I then explained that when animals and even humans get older, a lot of times our sense of hearing is lost.
He seemed to consider this for a minute, and then he responded, “Mommy, I don’t lose my hearing, see? The way to keep yourself from losing your hearing is by doing this.” I look over at Will, and he has placed both hands tightly over his ears, as if willing them to stay put. “By covering my ears up, it makes sure that my hearing doesn’t fall out.”
Keep staying awesome, kid.
a life well loved 