Alphabe-Thursday Rainbow Summer School - INDIGO

I've been patiently waiting for the color indigo so I could share a very special part of my life with you during Alphabe-Thursday Rainbow Summer School.  Please visit Ms. Jenny's blog Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent..." for a list of my fellow students and the links to their blogs.

Growing up in NJ there were commuter trains that would stop at the local train station in the morning and the evening.  There were also freight trains that would pass through during the day. 

When I was in the fifth grade my friends and I would walk downtown and sometimes walk along the train tracks.  When we'd hear a train coming we would quickly put our pennies on the track and hide.  For some reason we thought we'd be in trouble if the engineer or conductor saw us.  After the train would pass we'd retrieve our flattened pennies from the rail.  We would play this little game over and over again until we ran out of pennies.

One day as we walked along the track we heard a weak meow.  We started scanning the track and there between a couple of railroad ties was a tiny white kitten.  He was probably six or seven weeks old and looked up at us with the prettiest dark blue eyes.  He weakly meowed again.   We knew we couldn't leave him there, so I picked him up and we all headed to my house as quickly as possible.  When we arrived with this skinny little creature my mother took pity and offered him a dish of water.  He drank and drank.  We had no cat food so Mom opened up a can of tuna fish and gave him some.  He gulped it right down.

Mom decided we should take him to the Veterinarian to be checked out.  He was a little underweight and slightly dehydrated, but the Veterinarian pronounced him healthy.  His beautiful blue eyes sparkled and the Veterinarian commented on the unusual shade of blue.  He said they looked like indigo to him and he had never seen a cat with such beautiful eyes before. 

Mom agreed to let me keep him and all we needed now was a name.  Because of the Veterinarian's comment about his eyes my Mom suggested the name Indigo.  After a family vote the name Indigo became official.

Indigo knew he was my cat and would sleep most nights on my bed.  When I had a bad day at school it was Indigo who would have to listen to my tail of woe.  If I was sick it was Indigo who kept me company while I rested.  In the morning it was Indigo who would wake me up with his scratchy tongue on my cheek.  We were best friends.

In 1968 I got married and moved away.  I missed Indigo and eventually my husband and I got our own cat.  Indigo now belonged to Mom and Dad.  Whenever I came home for a visit he would hear my voice and greet me with a meow.  I loved those visits and Indigo would once again curl up next to me at night.  My husband would joke about being displaced during those visits. 

Eventually old age started to catch up with Indigo.  We saw him gradually slowing down.  Finally, the call came late one night.  Mom wanted to let me know that she and Dad had made the painful decision to have Indigo euthanized the next morning.  I knew I had to be there for my best friend, so against my husbands advice I quickly packed a bag, jumped in the car, and headed north.  I drove through the night and reached NJ around five in the morning.

At 9:00 AM Mom called the Veterinarian and was told to bring him right in.  I held my little friends paw as he slowly slipped away.  I've had many cats in my life, but never one as special as Indigo.

Now you can understand why I was looking forward to this week and the color Indigo assignment.  It has give me an opportunity to share my very special friend with you.   Now head over to Ms. Jenny's blog for a list of my classmates and links to their blogs.

I hope you've all had a special imaginary friend in your life too. 


Yes, Indigo is my imaginary friend.  He only exists in my mind because I was desperate this week and couldn't think of anything else to post.



Can we talk?  What kind of a name is indigo for a color?  I can understand green, blue, yellow, etc., but indigo??? 

Sorry, this was the best I could do.  Please don't flunk me Ms. Matlock.