By Jeanette M. Pintar - with inspiration from Misty

There's a reason they call Georgia's capital city, "Hotlanta." The dog days of summer sizzle the mercury into the 90's and a "cool" evening means a mighty drop into the lower 70's… if you're lucky. Truthfully, I think the tropical weather here is purrrfect. And so did Misty. We both preferred open windows and a nice cross-breeze over air conditioning and Misty just loved to sleep out on the balcony in her "kitty condo" in the evenings.

One night I awoke to an awful noise, thinking maybe a stray dog got stuck in the storm sewer. When I really listened, it sounded like it was coming from our balcony! On occasion Misty would relentlessly meow to come in at night for food if she got too hungry to wait until morning, but she never sounded like that! Could that ear-piercing wail be coming our Sweet Little Misty? God, I hoped not!

I threw on my bathrobe and ran to the balcony door, forcing my eyes to focus in the darkness. Holy cow! It was Misty, she was sitting atop her Kitty Condo, calling out the most horrid noise I'd ever heard her (or any other animal) make. (I knew she could not be "in heat" as she'd been "fixed" years ago.) I opened the door and instructed her to come inside. She just looked at me. Great, after all that ruckus she was going to cop a cattitude. "Misty, NOW!" I demanded. She just sat and stared at me, her body language saying, "Sorry, Babe, I don't think so." I gave her one last chance and the ultimate warning… the Double Clap. Misty knew if I clapped twice and she didn't listen she would be squirted with water, and 99.9% of the time she responded ASAP to the dreaded Double Clap. But that night she stared at me like I was crazy.

That did it! Misty might be a feline goddess, but I'm the boss and she'd better listen! I opened the door, marched over to the Kitty Condo and stretched out my arms to grab her when I suddenly saw Misty's head poke out from behind the swing on the opposite side of the balcony, letting out a scared meow. Oh my! No wonder that cat didn't listen - it wasn't Misty!

I tried to shoo it away while Misty timidly ran inside. But The Amorous Tom Cat who had put all that effort into climbing up to the second-story balcony and serenading our little Misty Kitty had not figured out how he would get back down. I'm normally quite compassionate when it comes to animals but at that moment, I experienced the same protective "touch my baby and you die," attitude that my dad had when I was a teenager! I didn't care how that cat got down, I just wanted him gone - and away from my Baby Girl. I thought about carrying him through the apartment, but what if he jumped out of my arms before I could get him out the other door? He wouldn't budge and I didn't want to touch him. So I grabbed the broom and tried to shoo him away with that. He backed down the outside of the balcony rails and hung suspended above the ground. I fussed at him some more until he finally dropped, landing first on the lower balcony rail and then into the bushes.

I have to admit, I later felt bad about shooing him away. It took a lot of courage and effort for The Amorous Tom Cat to crawl up to our balcony and serenade Misty. Even though he was quite a handsome fellow from what I could see in the dark, I am glad it wasn't Misty he would eventually court! But the incident made me think about the times I had taken chances for love in my life. They all felt a little scary at the time. And like The Amorous Tom Cat, some of them did not work out and I fell flat on my face. However the ones that did work out, made all the risks worthwhile. In fact, it was moving beyond our fears that brought Misty, my husband, Mark, and I all together. And I wouldn't trade that for anything!

Remember: Love can be scary, but sometimes you have to take the risk.

--- © Jeanette M. Pintar, inspired by Misty