Buddy the Cat

I have been making friends with Buddy the Cat. 

Now, this may not seem like a big deal to most cat people, but let me tell you more about Buddy.  He is my mom's gray and white, long haired, semi-feral cat.  He is 16 years old and was born on her property.  For most of his life, he wouldn't let anyone touch him, except for Mom, the ultimate Cat Lady, and even that took some doing.  Of course, I've seen him over the course of time, but he always would run under the bed, or go outside to escape anyone who came into the house.  Mom always keeps him in her bedroom, which has a slider door to the yard, so it's nice and bright and comfy.

At one point, she was coordinating cat schedules between Buddy and the other black, short haired cat, also named Buddy.  Mom names every cat "Buddy".

When I say "coordinating schedules", I mean exactly that.  They did not get along and it seemed to me that all Mom ever did was shuffle the cats around the house.  When the black cat came in, the gray cat would have to go out, and vice versa.  Dinner was timed so that they did not have to eat together.  This is what started the bedroom confinement scenario.  Now that he black cat has passed on, the gray cat is still confined to the bedroom; he gets scared when Mom tries to bring him into another room.

Since I've been staying with her during her foot surgery recuperation, he has decided that I might be all right.  He has "kissed" me on the face in the middle of the night so that I could get up to let him out, he has let me pet him, he laid on my shoulder so I could better cuddle with him, let me cut matts out of his fur (and there are MANY!) while Mom held him, he's let me hold him, and the other day Mom said he even was looking for me when I was not in the bedroom with her.

I hate to think that he is getting too attached, as I will be leaving next Saturday.  I will miss him.