Callie

My beautiful Callie girl!

Full Name: Calpurrnia
I named Callie for Calpurnia, the wife of Julius Caesar. I chose this woman (mostly according to Shakespeare’s characterization of her) because she uses her voice, her speech, as an attempt to warn her husband not to trust his peers and to stay home. Callie earned this name from the instant I met her–she is extremely talkative. A day with Callie is like a day with a popular six-year-old: she “talks” about every experience she has throughout the day. Is she trying to tell me something truly important despite my inability, like Julius Caesar’s, to understand her? Probably not. She’s a cat. But it’s fun to imagine anyway.
Nicknames: Callie’s nicknames are likely to appear throughout the blog. Here’s a crash course: Cal, Callie-cat, Callie-leigh, Leigh-Leigh, Leigh-girl, and Ms. Girl.

Year of Birth: September 2004

Breed: RagaMuffin, tortoiseshell markings

Story: In February 2005, I was having a really rough semester. It was the second semester in my first year of graduate school as a Master’s student. I lived alone and felt entirely isolated once I left campus. I knew I needed a companion (and I hadn’t met Robert yet). I started doing some research on the cost of keeping a cat (by visiting PetCo and some local vets), and it was during my research that I met Cal. She was recovering from her spay surgery at the vet–he actually found her walking on the side of the road as he went in for work a few days earlier. Before giving her to the local humane society, he decided to go ahead and give her the surgery that is required for adoption. I fortunately found her before the vet took her to the shelter, and I was the first person who saw her. I got to lay claim on her, and I officially adopted her a couple of days later, when she was better recovered.

Callie is a special cat. As I said, she walks around the house “talking” all day–and I love it. Her meow is so pretty. She purrs every chance she gets, and she loves to be cuddled all. the. time. I am, of course, happy to oblige her. Callie saved me from a life of isolation and alienation brought on by graduate school. She gave me another reason to get up every morning, a more important reason. She reminded me how to care about something outside of graduate school.

Grooming: an all-day activity for Callie. With all that fur, who can blame her?