hes not just my cat

ben

Hes not just my cat. 

Ben is a brown tabbyish Maine coon with a whole lot of sass, hes a energetic fur ball who loves ham more then me. I mean it.

But let's go back a bit, to a random Saturday.

 I was sitting on my blue couch, flipping through a book that had facts all about cats facts and breeds. I flipped over to the Maine coon section. I read every word so carefully. I looked up at my mom who was sitting next to me scrolling on her phone and my cat, Tama sitting on my mom's lap. I said 

"mama look how cute this cat is! I want one like this someday!" 

My mom looked down from her phone and just nodded and smiled softly. next thing I know my 9th birthday rolls around, i come back from school with my babysitter and I wanna drop my bag off In my room before I go to the living room but my mom stops me and says I cant go in there. i find this kind of suspicious but I think nothing of it because well, the only thing im thinking of is: cake. 

Later in the day after cake and presents my mom tells me to close my eyes and that I shouldn't peek at all. so I dont and my dad tells me to hold open my hands. A few minutes later I hear my mom's footsteps walking towards me. 

Then I heard it, a little meow. 

I scream and open my eyes and it's a Maine coon kitten. A MAINE COON KITTEN. holy fart I freaked out so much and I started crying while holding the Maine coon kitten.

Later when ive calmed down, my mom asks me what I wanna name him, I pick him up and then I say ben, my mom asked me why I wanted to name him ben, I said, well Maine coons get big and there's a clock called Big Ben so I wanna name him ben. and my mom judged the name (still does btw) but I love the name.

Also his birthday is on the 23rd of December so I also call him a Christmas kitty. 

but, hes not just my cat. because ben has heard me cry myself to sleep some nights, hes comforted me when I had fights with my parents (we always forgave each other after but it still hurt with the name calling & such) and hes just been there through every milestone ever since. and hes always been there. 

and its hard to wrap around my head how he wont be there one day, where ill go achieve a milestone I worked so hard for and he just wont be there. and how ive been his best friend his entire life but hes only been mine for a short amount of time. and when I think about that its just I really wished cats lived forever so we wouldn't have to say goodbye. I love ben with all my heart, and I'll never stop loving him. hes forever gonna be my baby and im grateful that I still have him today. 

and recently actually i was scrolling on insta and I saw this girl thrift a shirt for her cat and I had to do the same thing for ben. he now has 3 shirts and I plan to continue growing his shirt collection because why not? you only live once. 

happy early birthday ben. you've made my life better by just existing.