In my first Don’t Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth post on November 17, I talked about my cat, Felice, who I lost right before I started this blog (and this blog probably wouldn’t exist yet if I hadn’t lost her). My friends honored her with some amazing gifts, which I included in that post.
Little did I know there was one more coming.
On December 4, I was working at my desk at the back of our living room when I heard the clunk of the mailbox, followed by the beeps of the scanner from the post office. We’d already started to order Christmas gifts by then, so I expected the delivery was one of those. Our area isn’t really prone to porch pirates, but you never know, especially around the holidays, so I usually get all our packages in quickly.
The box was pretty small and addressed to me, and the return address was from a friend and fellow hobbyist, Michelle Weston. I usually wait til after work to open my packages - kind of a reward for getting through the day - but I didn’t remember ordering anything and curiosity got the best of me, so I opened it right away.
Little did I know there was one more coming.
On December 4, I was working at my desk at the back of our living room when I heard the clunk of the mailbox, followed by the beeps of the scanner from the post office. We’d already started to order Christmas gifts by then, so I expected the delivery was one of those. Our area isn’t really prone to porch pirates, but you never know, especially around the holidays, so I usually get all our packages in quickly.
The box was pretty small and addressed to me, and the return address was from a friend and fellow hobbyist, Michelle Weston. I usually wait til after work to open my packages - kind of a reward for getting through the day - but I didn’t remember ordering anything and curiosity got the best of me, so I opened it right away.
This is what was in the box.
It’s Felice.
It’s Felice.
When I say it’s Felice, I mean it’s not an approximation of Felice, or a cat that looks sort of like Felice. It’s her. Michelle must have looked at a ton of pictures to paint her, because she nailed it. She got the black that ended above Felice’s right eye but looped around underneath her left, the stripes on her forehead, and the little white patch that went up higher on the left side of her nose than the right.
She got the little white patches that went across the back of Felice’s neck, the orange that zigzagged up her back, the orange patch that ran across her hips from side to side, the black patches on both hips, and her mostly-black tail with tiny patches of orange.
She got the big orange spot under Felice’s left arm and the small one under her right arm, and she got the pink and black toe beans. I am awed by the attention to detail.
The miniature Felice came with a card that Michelle had written. My friends Heather B, Kelly K, Kelly W, Heather M, Stacey K, Sara R, Beth E, and Cory H had reached out to her to commission this perfect little replica of Felice for me.
And Michelle didn’t stop there.
The miniature Felice came with a card that Michelle had written. My friends Heather B, Kelly K, Kelly W, Heather M, Stacey K, Sara R, Beth E, and Cory H had reached out to her to commission this perfect little replica of Felice for me.
And Michelle didn’t stop there.
There was this little ziplock bag in the box. On it was written “Dude.”
Inside was this.
Which is a miniature version of this - Felice’s favorite toy, her Dude.
Dude is the first toy I bought for Felice. Felice was eight weeks old, just a tiny little thing, and was terrified of me after I chased her down the middle of the Parkway West. I thought she might want something to snuggle with until she warmed up to me, so I went to the pet store that night and bought her this little dog toy, which was about the same size she was, thinking she could cuddle with him.
I don’t know if he ever served his intended purpose those first few days, but as you can see by his bedraggled appearance, she loved the hell out of her Dude her entire life.
Dude is the first toy I bought for Felice. Felice was eight weeks old, just a tiny little thing, and was terrified of me after I chased her down the middle of the Parkway West. I thought she might want something to snuggle with until she warmed up to me, so I went to the pet store that night and bought her this little dog toy, which was about the same size she was, thinking she could cuddle with him.
I don’t know if he ever served his intended purpose those first few days, but as you can see by his bedraggled appearance, she loved the hell out of her Dude her entire life.
She carried him everywhere. She could barely see over him when she had him in her mouth and looked absolutely ridiculous, but that never stopped her. The picture with the blinds is exactly how I found them that day - she had set him up to watch the birds with her. Sometimes she’d see birds on the back deck and purposely go get him in her mouth to show the birds what a vicious killer she was. (She did that with toy mice sometimes, too. And nevermind that she never killed anything bigger than the occasional spider or centipede.) She’d routinely bring her Dude to me when she was hungry - we called it her “offering.” Whenever she’d bring him to me, I had to acknowledge him; she wouldn’t walk away until I did. At the end of every day, I’d go find wherever she put her Dude and bring him upstairs to put him on the bed where she slept.
My friends didn’t mention anything about Felice’s Dude when they ordered the commission of Felice from Michelle - mini Dude was all Michelle’s doing. He’s the size of my thumbnail. I don’t know how she made something that tiny. He’s perfect, just like mini Felice. I would have loved the Felice sculpture by itself, but having her little Dude to go along with it was the icing on the cake. She and her Dude were inseparable in life, and now mini Felice will be playing with mini Dude forever.
My friends didn’t mention anything about Felice’s Dude when they ordered the commission of Felice from Michelle - mini Dude was all Michelle’s doing. He’s the size of my thumbnail. I don’t know how she made something that tiny. He’s perfect, just like mini Felice. I would have loved the Felice sculpture by itself, but having her little Dude to go along with it was the icing on the cake. She and her Dude were inseparable in life, and now mini Felice will be playing with mini Dude forever.
It goes without saying that this is one of the most special things in my entire collection, and that I have some of the best friends in the world.
🤩🥰😭
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