This is a story about how my husband won my heart by rescuing my beloved Kitty.

I love my Kitty.

You might think she is ugly.

But I won’t hear it.

Kitty is beautiful.

Even if she is missing one eye.

There’s a reason for it, and I’ll tell you all about it. But first, you have to know a little bit about our history together so you can fully appreciate the story in depth.

Poor Kitty wasn’t always this way.

Her fur used to be smooth and not all frayed and ratty. She was whiter than white, not a stain or spot on her.

I knew it was love when I first saw her, there in the bottom of the cage under all the other stuffed animals of the department store toy basket. Like those big baskets with all those bouncy balls you used to see in the grocery store.

I saw her there, with my innocent three-year-old eyes, and knew: She was meant for me.

My parents weren’t so sure. But grandmothers are smarter. My “Abue” knew. So she became my own, my first “pet” bought from the mall in Mexico, and traveled with me all those miles, across the border, and with me to our new home in a new land.

She was my constant companion. Kept me safe at night, guarded my bed and all the other stuffed animals that crowded my bed during the day. Every day I brushed her hair, stroke after stroke until all the tangles were gone and I could run my fingers through her soft synthetic fur.

She was my pillow, let me snuggle up with her and cry on her when the days were rough. She even followed me when our family packed up and moved again, though I was almost an adult, I still needed her. And she me.

She was my faithful friend, my little mother, a silent listener. No matter what others said about her, she remained by my side.

When it was time to begin a new life with my husband, she happily joined us, even let him and his groomsmen use her as our first – and only – decoration in our first Christmas tree in our first apartment.

She didn’t complain, not a meow, not a scratch.

Then, when it was time for us to say goodbye to our first home, that little space we began our marriage and family together, she waited patiently till all the bags were packed.

Then, after the last load was piled up in the back of my husband’s pick-up truck, we set her on top, right were I could see her when I turned and looked through the back window.

We headed from our apartment to the house we’d be living in until the owners, who’d so graciously invited us to house-sit for them, returned.

We were driving down Central avenue, thinking of the future. I rubbed my five-month pregnant belly and wondered what awaited us in this new home, with this new life.

I turned to check on our stuff in the truck, turned back to remember what we were leaving behind. And then it happened.

The unthinkable.

The GREAT ACCIDENT.

I was looking back there, when suddenly, a gust of wind blew through the back of the truck, I saw Kitty sitting there nicely enjoying the ride from the top of all our luggage, and then suddenly – quick as lightning,

she was flying!

Flying out of the truck, carried hastily by the wind and she was gone!

GONE!!!

My beloved Kitty was GONE!

Just like that. All those years together, and just one gust of wind and she was…gone.

I cried out in anguish.

NooooooOOOOOooooo!!!

KIIIIITTTTTYYYYYY!!!!

My husband, hearing his deeply distraught wife and filled with the deepest compassion, pulled the truck around and drove back to the spot were Kitty flew away.

At this point, I was sobbing…big buckets of anguished pregnancy-hormone-filled tears.

She was gone, gone forever. Most likely run over and unidentifiable.

But then…”Look!” He said.

There, on the other side of the road, where the road was pulled apart for construction, we saw her!

Looking both ways, my husband swiftly crossed over, swooped Kitty up, crossed back over, and valiantly laid Kitty into my trembling arms.

KIIITTTYY!! Oh Kitty!

I looked at my husband and, in that moment, I knew. I knew I’d made the best decision of my life when I married him. I don’t know if I had ever loved my husband more than I did in that moment.

We took poor, traumatized Kitty home with us. She’d had a pretty bad fall. Her beautiful fur was full of dirt and, one of her beautiful blue button eyes was missing.

But I didn’t care. I had my Kitty and I’d love her, one eye and all.

Once we got the washer and dryer set up, we let Kitty go in for a swim. I remember watching her tossing around in the washer through the door window. When she came out of the dryer, she looked like a puffed-up fur ball.

My husband and I had a good laugh over it all. I said I’d go out and find a new eyeball for her. But I never did and probably never will either.

When others see her now, they might only see an ugly dirty one-eyed creepy cat.

But when I look at Kitty, I remember the day she flew away and out of my life for what I thought would be forever. And I remember how my husband turned that truck around and rescued her for me.

And I’ll love him forever for it.