A boy and his cat

This is one of my all-time fave pics of my husband "Fernando" and our now-deceased cat Nombly.

A million years ago I was living with my roommate Delyriam, and she brought home this abandoned tabby from her work place. Not to keep, but just to foster for awhile, because he hated being caged so much. He'd tear up his fresh newspaper every day. Delyriam used to let him out to wander around. (We think he was living on the streets for awhile before being brought in.)

Well obviously we kept him. It would be very difficult for me to foster and animal and give it up after. Nombly had a gentle, sweet nature. He was a little bit timid, a bit neurotic, but soon warmed to visitors. My friend Gilby is uncomfortable around animals because he doesn't understand them, so their sudden movements startle him etc. But he loved Nombly, because he would move slowwwly and gently.

Most people know that my husband had a rough childhood. F. used to come to our apartment (we were dating) and when he and Nombly met it was love at first sight. They were both a little bit broken, both saw the world in the same way, and both had the same gentle spirit.

While Nombly would cuddle and hang with me and Delyriam too, Fernando was the center of his universe. When Delyriam and I un-cohabitated (when I got married to F) it was obvious that Fernando and I would take the cats, while Delyriam took the dogs. If Fernando and I had ever divorced, there's no question I would have had to give Nombly up.

When Fernando got home from work, Nombly would hop about his feet until F. finally picked him up. When F would wake up, Nombly was the first down the hall to greet him. He was happiest when being held by Fernando, or sitting on his lap, or guarding him while he played his video games.

And Fernando felt the same way about Nombly. Nombly was his soft place to fall. His unconditional love. His unjudgmental best friend.

What I love about the above photo is that we somehow managed to capture this relationship on "film". The universe was just a little bit less scary because they had each other.

The first I'd see of Fernando when he woke up. Always with Nombs on shoulder...
 

Haley and Minion are great, but there's a lot less Tenderness around here since Nombly died in 2009.