Wednesday, September 01, 2010

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.

16 comments:

  1. okay ... i know exactly how you feel ... and now tears are filling my eyes and i cant type ... that was beautiful ...

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  2. WOW, you had me the first few sentences...kinda sad to know it wasn't true. Great story though.

    I had fun with this color! Course my mind thinks a little off the wall anyway..hehe.

    See ya next week..

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  3. Betty, I believed your wonderfully told story right up to the end until you told us it was imaginary! :) Indigo is a hard color to find!

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  4. What a wonderful story.. made me feel good and sad at the same time.. thanks for visiting my blog.. and your story of the turtle on the windowsill.. my little house is as special, 37 yr old son thinks I'm odd for keeping it! He also was born in Jersey...
    Hopefully the hurricane Earl will not skim your shores this week...
    Sandy

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  5. We all need imaginary friends, every day.

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  6. I love that story!

    It makes me want to go right out to the barn to pet my little mare, China. China's real name is Misty Ripplins, but she has the most amazing blue eyes, so we call her China Blue.

    A lot of old horsemen believe that blue eyes makes for a crazy horse, but she's about the sweetest girl on the planet.

    Love love love this darling story!

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  7. What a beautiful story! You had me believing till the very end..and I also smile when you come clean..

    I like it..very much!

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  8. Boy, you really had me there! I was going to say that this was one of my favorite posts this week because of the touching story.

    But what the heck? It still IS one of my favorites this week...

    =)

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  9. Boy, you really had me going there. I was going to say that this was one of my favorite indigo posts this week because of the touching story.

    But what the heck, it still IS one of my favorites!

    =)

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  10. I can't believe you made this up. It sounded so real.

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  11. Great story - as always. Great post!

    Have a great Labor Day Weekend too,

    LOLA:)

    btw My Rainbow Indigo link is here

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  12. I was going to say that this was one of the sweetest stories I'd ever heard. Now I'll just say it was one of the best stories I've ever heard! Great imagination, I fell for this hook, line and sinker. Kat

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  13. What a great work of fiction! It was kinda close to the story I had with Blue, my cat. He had the most gorgeous blue eyes! I took him in because he was homeless and starving and wanted to live with me. He was probably 3. He kept me company during my many years as a single gal. He moved into my new home with my husband and put up with the abuse of our toddler before we had to euthanize him. He lived with me for about 16 years and was about 19 years old when it was his time.

    Reading your story was so weird. I felt like I got hit by a board when you mentioned that Indigo was a work of fiction! LOL

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  14. Fooled me completely. Part of that is because my grandmother had an indigo eyed cat she loved so dearly. Your story could have been hers. So I'm choosing to believe you channeled my grandmother this week instead of creating an amazing piece of fiction.

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  15. You're a stinker.

    You totally tricked me into this and I got all teary eyed and then BAM!

    I totally loved it.

    And you know I am always a big fan of imagination.

    Clever, clever link to Rainbow Summer Schools Indigo.

    But you are still a stinker!

    A+

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