Of Shirts and Summer Haircuts: Passing on the Mantle

June 07, 2013

Of Shirts and Summer Haircuts: Passing on the Mantle

Good afernoon, felinity assembled, this is your no longer as young as he once was head opinionated pussycat, Nikita.

It has been a busy week, here; Daddy and his medical appointments, I and my summer hairdo, Elvira watching all this coming and going in between naps and snoozes.

Oh, and we still have Blog Paws reportage and photos coming, plus more surprises planned.

When I entered the life of Daddy Kiril, in the spring of 1998, just over a month old, one of the things I remember is a t-shirt he had.

He wore it in a couple of photos of us that he took, and our only regret is that they didn't turn out much clearer.

Neither of us remember when he bought it (but it had to have been in 1997, or early 1998), or how long he wore it before honorably retiring it.

He had forgotten where he bought it, assuming it was long out of manufacture.

Then, several days ago something brought the old shirt to mind, and he did a Google...and got the surprise of his life; Not only was the shirt still being made, but it was being made and sold by the original company!

Daddy filled out a comment form on the site, as follows, and then bought a sweat shirt:

"Oh my! Just did a search on a whim for an old t-shirt I had in the late 90's "Real Men Admit They Love Cats", and discovered your site and my beloved shirt!

Thank you! I never knew it was still around!"

He soon recevied an e-mail...

Thanks Kiril, glad you found us. This is the original and still owned by its creator and owner of Meow.com. She started as a mail order business in 1986 called Hep Cat, and switched to the web when it opened up as Meow.

Your blog is cool, like the logo and content. I should get your order in the mail tomorrow.

Thanks again, Don

Can a t-shirt be a catalyst toward creativity? In Sept. of 1998, this kitten made his first appearance online, soon after daddy bought his first computer, beginning a creative writing and journalistic journey that led to blogging in 2002, and my own blog on New Year's Day 2010.

I persuaded daddy to not just buy a t-shirt, but the sturdy sweat shirt instead; I did so for a reason.

Though still frisky of hoof (OK, "paw") and mouth, I am not getting any younger, my friends; at 15, with arthritis of the joints and weight issues that have seen me lose 6 lbs. and stay there for a couple of years, now, while I plan to be running this show, and continue writing up a storm, right beside my young protégé, the sassy Elvira Mistress of Felinity, for at least the next 5 years, Ceiling Cat may have other plans, so...

I wanted the return of "Real Men Admit They Love Cats" into our lives to mean something special; an affirmation of the continued evolution of our collective creativity and recognition that the student is progressing quite nicely and will be more than ready to follow in my footsteps, as lead writer, when the time comes.