When I was a teenager, a rockabilly group, The Stray Cats, started growing in popularity and a few of their songs made it on my list of favorites at the time, which was sometime in the early 1980s. Those songs included Rock This Town, The Stray Cat Strut, and (She’s) Sexy + 17. Unlike the growing hair metal and rock music of the time, this band was a definite throwback to the music my parents had listened to when they were growing up, which made it a bit more appealing to my parents in the car. While my love of the band and their music didn’t last long, their popular bluesy diddy, The Stray Cat Strut floats through my mind from time to time when we come across a stray cat.
This was the case when we adopted our little tuxedo, Zuzu, four years ago. Hers is a bit of a tragic back story. My husband was working as a general manager at a local hotel and one night some local law enforcement officials showed up at his hotel with a warrant to arrest a few people who were staying in a handful of the rooms. In the wake of their arrest, all of the belongings were left behind because even though one person was not on the warrant, she did not choose to collect anything from any of the rooms, including their cat when she left the premises.
Two days later, when my husband returned to work, he learned that the little black cat was still in the room. Rather than surrender her to the local humane society, we chose to bring her home and she’s been with us ever since. To say my girls were over the moon would be a bit of an understatement. These two young women have a tender heart for cats and dogs and immediately welcomed her into our family. They have never met a dog or cat they didn’t fall in love with on the spot.
So it was not surprising when we arrived at the church last week to pick my husband up from one of his rehearsals and we spotted a small and loving stray white cat loving on some of the praise band members that my girls hopped out of the car almost before we’d come to a complete stop. That sweet stray loved all over them, flopping herself on the ground and rolling belly up to let everyone know how much she was lapping up all their love and adoration. I loved the pure joy in each girl’s smile as they showered that sweet stray with attention.
At their invitation, I, too, exited the car and came for a short visit with the stray cat that was strutting around that parking lot as if she owned the place…and the people. Because she pretty much did. I love watching my girls brimming with such loving care for such a small seemingly abandoned creature. It reminds me of how beautiful their hearts truly are because those same hearts have as much care and concern for seemingly lonely or marginalized teenagers. More than likely they extend that kind of love to others because they have felt invisible or marginalized at times, especially when they were attending a public charter school in town.
In the wake of some of those moments, as our girls have revisited some of their experiences from that time at that charter school, I have reminded them often that it is other people’s loss and not theirs when others choose to ignore or avoid them or, as was the case for my youngest, to antagonize and bully her. What I see in my girls is their willingness to create space for others and that moment in the church parking lot, as they knelt on the ground and lavished love on that stray cat was a clear reflection of how amazing these two young women truly are. If I had to guess, that stray cat strutted around them and rolled onto her back at their feet because she, too, could tell how awesome these two teenagers are. She trusted them enough to strut before them, tail held high, purring and accepting all the love they had to share. Which was a lot. And, in the recesses of my mind, as we climbed back into the car, The Stray Cats sang the lyrics to their popular tune, The Stray Cat Strut: I wish I could be as carefree and wild, But I got cat class and I got cat style.