Almost exactly 6 years ago, Russ and I sat on our deck with his high school classmates celebrating their 15th class reunion. Having just moved into our home, we were discussing country living and how we needed to get a cat to help control the inevitable mice that would become an issue. Just as we were saying this, a cat meandered up the steps and proceeded to climb into Russ' lap. We all got a good laugh out of the crazy luck and this is a story I've loved to tell over the years. Rocky, as we later named her, became a part of our family over the past 6 years and Russ and I went from being NOT "cat people" at all, to actually allowing Rocky in our house and even on our bed (I can't believe I just admitted to that!). She was certainly a special cat and we were very sad to lose her this week.
This is a picture of the first night when Rocky adopted us as her family 6 years ago.
The primary reason Rocky was ever allowed in the house at all was this adorable 20 month old we had crawling around at the time. She was completely smitten and her first word was "Cat."
All these years later, Violet never lost her affection for our furry friend. And thankfully, Rocky never lost her patience with our sweet Violet. From day one until the the end, Violet not-so-gently loved on Rocky, and this good-natured feline never once scratched or bit or did anything other than walk away from the 'love.' We always joked that Rocky knew her ticket inside the house was Violet, and so she was willing to deal with whatever Violet gave her.
Rocky was so loving with ALL children, not just our Violet. And kids who entered our house were immediately drawn to her calming spirit. One of our recent bonus kiddos watched out the window with Rocky in this picture. We've had 5 bonus kids so far, and ALL of them have loved our cat.
KayLeigh, Brycen's sister never left Rocky's side when they would come over to visit.
And Rocky definitely loved the attention when there were kids around. Ella and Calvin at Halloween 2011 gave her plenty of lovin'.
But hands-down, Rocky Cat got most of her attention from our Violet girl. I just love the special bond that they had.
You may remember, Violet even had a Cat-themed birthday party because she loved Rocky so much! When Evelyn came along, Rocky had one more Dwyer child to love and the feeling was mutual. Rocky was often asked to join in tea parties and other games Evie was playing.
Rocky was a very low-maintenance cat because she loved the outdoors as much as the indoors. When she was healthy, she loved chasing things outside and jumping into trees -- she was so athletic! And oftentimes you would find her just sunning herself on the deck.
She seemed to be quite the "watch cat" too. Oftentimes, I would wake up at night to check on kids and find her wide awake, just keeping a watch on the house. She had LOTS of kids to keep a watch on during one of our cousin sleepovers.
And one Christmas, I found her trying out Santa's gifts in the early morning hours before the kids woke up! It seemed she was always awake at night.
Rocky did a great job of catching mice (while she was healthy) and we loved having her around.
When Rocky joined our family back in 2011, we had no idea the impact she would make on our family. We never did find out where she came from, but I'm very thankful that she came. I'd say Russ and I still aren't cat-people, but we were definitely Rocky-people. She will certainly be missed. Rest in peace, Rocky Cat.
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