Selene De La Cruz, Clementine & Rebel
I have 2 cats: Rebel and Clementine (or Rebs and Clem). Clementine is a gray, fluffy, supposedly part Maine Coon, but a petite lady. Rebel is a large tuxedo cat with bright green eyes who came with my husband (a selling point for sure). I added Clem to the mix because I thought Rebel should have a friend, and also because I wanted a cat of my own. I know it’s not right to play favorites, but Clementine is the love of my life. She has these large, beautiful turquoise eyes and the sweetest personality. I got her about 6 years ago, and it was actually a co-worker who found her on Petfinder (thanks, Dana!) She sent me her profile, and it was love at first sight. Clem was at a foster house in Staten Island and her foster parent warned me that Clem was super shy. I wrote back that it wasn’t a problem at all—my family would take in feral kittens when I was growing up and find them homes, so I was used to skittish cats. Apparently many people had wanted Clem, but my response had been the most understanding of her situation. We were meant to be.
Now, Clementine is super chatty and friendly—she likes to announce her arrival into a space, and the announcements continue until you pet or hold her. I always know when she wakes up because she gives a little morning meow before she runs downstairs to find me and jumps into my lap. She also loves to sniff people’s noses, so that’s another part of our morning routine. I pick her up and she gives me a sniff, then I carry her to my husband so she can get a whiff of his nose. We don’t know why, but she seems to really enjoy it. We joke that Clementine has never experienced the emotion of anger. She’s just constantly in delight of the world around her, and expects—and gives, and receives—love. I did change her name when I brought her home, somewhat inspired by the Elliott Smith song and Kate Winslet’s character in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (I was an emo kid).
Ryan has a tattoo of a ferocious, growling Rebel by SlowerBlack (Jenna Bouma) on his forearm. I have a tattoo of clementine flowers by Nadia Andriu on my thigh in Clem’s honor.
People also say that Rebel is cute. She is, and she can be super affectionate and demanding of cuddles. But she can also be quite sassy. She once dumped a glass of water on my head when I was sleeping early on in my relationship with my husband—I had taken her spot. It’s been so sweet to see her relationship with Clementine evolve. It’s gone from pure anger (she actually was so stressed when Clementine arrived that she stopped pooping) to a friendship. They play and clean each other every day, and just generally like to be around one another. Rebel is so much bigger and faster, so she’s somewhat patient with Clementine, but their games usually end with Clem trying to hide.
We put their favorite cushions side by side so they can nap in each other’s company, and I often find them nestled together, or sometimes Clementine just stretches out a paw to touch Rebel’s back. Rebel’s getting a bit older, and we had to remove all her teeth a few years ago due to terrible gingivitis. So she can still nip at us on occasion, but it’s just a gumming now.
Selene De La Cruz works in UX as a content designer. She’s also a writer, ceramicist, cyclist, yogi, and cat lover since day one.