A Cool Dude

Vern was born handsome and stayed that way until he died.  However, it wasn't just his looks that made him attractive.  He had a personality.  Now grant you, I personally wouldn't like to go through life with a name like that, but I guess it could have been worse.

He accepted it just fine, although people made fun of it.  And, he did do some strange things throughout his lifetime.  He was driving my daughter nuts as a kitten, which is how he came into my life.  He'd wait until she was asleep, then attack the mattress and box spring, keeping her awake all night.  You see, Vern was her little black kitten that she had adopted.  To tell you the truth, I'm not sure how old he was when he moved in with us, but I know he was still little. 

To make matters worse, I already had two cats, Inky and Fatty Fuchsia, and was living in a condo.  However, he was so darn cute, you just couldn't say no.  My son used to take a small flashlight and move it all over the walls and ceiling and he would just crazy to try and catch it!  As he matured, though, he suddenly started to have these bald spots.  To my surprise, when I brought him to my vet he needed to get a shot of cortisone.  Then she said something about giving him a prescription for something that was the equivalent of Valium.  What?!?!  Are you ready for this?  Apparently Vern was suffering from a neurosis of sorts.  Yep...I owned a cat with a personality disorder!  Vern was apparently jealous of the other two.  He needed to know he was FIRST!  Do you believe that?

Anyway, I'm not much of a drug advocate so I opted to simply treat his neurosis with the shot and some extra love and attention.  And, like the Beatles said, "All You Need Is Love" because it worked like a charm!  Once he knew that he was "first" (typical man, I guess), he was fine.  We had very interesting adventures with Vern.

For instance, my son was dreaming that some girl was kissing his neck and woke to find Vern licking his neck!!  We still laugh about that one to this day...:)  Then there was the time when I had to help him look for the mouse!  Well, he was getting on in years, his hearing and eyesight were no longer as sharp as when he was a youngster, so I literally had to pick him up and point him in the right direction.  Sad, but true.

Vern was part of my life for a whopping seventeen years and I have many wonderful memories of him.  Because after all, a memory is a photograph taken by the mind.  Here's a sketch that my good friend, Nick, a co-worker, had his cousin make for me...