This weekend Hunter and I had a little getaway to Tampa. It was fun and I think we needed a little uninterrupted time together. On Friday night we did a night tour at Big Cat Rescue. (We made a donation there in Ada's name - you can read this post if you didn't read about that before.) We had seen a picture of her sign, but we were excited about seeing it in person. I knew they had moved it from its original spot, but I couldn't remember the name of the cat where it is now.
The cool thing about the night tour is that you get to see the cats being really active and exhibiting different behaviors than they do during the day. We got to see two bobcats chasing each other around the cage just like two house cats might do, and we saw several cats moving around that were only sleeping during the day tour we did last summer. There are no lights on the tour, but the tour guide and the helpers who come along all take flashlights. One really cool thing was that sometimes, because of the lighting, you could see a cat in its cage but you couldn't actually see the cage! There was one time we got a little spooked because we could see a cougar staring at us from 4 feet away but we couldn't see anything between us and the cat! Anyway, the bad part about this for us was that we couldn't read all of the signs!
I knew that Ada's sign was on a serval's cage, but they have quite a few of them. Hunter and I kept looking all over the place, and finally, halfway through the tour, we both saw it! It was exciting to see it, and just a little bit sad. The tour stopped next to it for several minutes while the guide talked about the cat who lives there. She's a serval named Shasta and she's almost 18 years old. She was used for breeding for years, but when she got too old the owners didn't have anything to do with her so Big Cat took her in. She's a "special needs" cat because she has a rare form of lupus and has to get medicine every day. After the guide finished talking I took out my camera and got my own picture of the sign. Nobody else in the group knew anything about us and I think only one of the volunteers noticed that I was taking a picture of it. I wonder what she thought. Later, after the tour, I bought a stuffed lynx in the gift shop for Eleanor. (I would have gotten a serval but they didn't have any.)
The rest of the weekend was nice. We went to an international festival and ate lots of great food from all over the world. Then, after a little down time, we went out for Peruvian food and went to Babies R Us. There are no Peruvian restaurants or BRU within an hour of us, so that was a fun evening for us. We spent a long time looking at the strollers and trying to decide what's the best choice. We're excited about preparing for Eleanor, but we still miss our firstborn.
There have been several times recently that I've almost called this baby Ada, and Hunter says he's done it too, but I guess that's what any parent goes through when they have a second child. I know I've been called by my brother and sister's names many times! I still always turn and look when I hear somebody call out "Pam!" in a public place. (Nobody ever says "Japheth"!) Anyway, there's a little bit of guilt when I almost call Eleanor by Ada's name, because it makes me feel like I'm trying to replace her. I know that's not the case, but I guess these feelings are natural. I just hate that I'm in the position to have them.
The cool thing about the night tour is that you get to see the cats being really active and exhibiting different behaviors than they do during the day. We got to see two bobcats chasing each other around the cage just like two house cats might do, and we saw several cats moving around that were only sleeping during the day tour we did last summer. There are no lights on the tour, but the tour guide and the helpers who come along all take flashlights. One really cool thing was that sometimes, because of the lighting, you could see a cat in its cage but you couldn't actually see the cage! There was one time we got a little spooked because we could see a cougar staring at us from 4 feet away but we couldn't see anything between us and the cat! Anyway, the bad part about this for us was that we couldn't read all of the signs!
I knew that Ada's sign was on a serval's cage, but they have quite a few of them. Hunter and I kept looking all over the place, and finally, halfway through the tour, we both saw it! It was exciting to see it, and just a little bit sad. The tour stopped next to it for several minutes while the guide talked about the cat who lives there. She's a serval named Shasta and she's almost 18 years old. She was used for breeding for years, but when she got too old the owners didn't have anything to do with her so Big Cat took her in. She's a "special needs" cat because she has a rare form of lupus and has to get medicine every day. After the guide finished talking I took out my camera and got my own picture of the sign. Nobody else in the group knew anything about us and I think only one of the volunteers noticed that I was taking a picture of it. I wonder what she thought. Later, after the tour, I bought a stuffed lynx in the gift shop for Eleanor. (I would have gotten a serval but they didn't have any.)
The rest of the weekend was nice. We went to an international festival and ate lots of great food from all over the world. Then, after a little down time, we went out for Peruvian food and went to Babies R Us. There are no Peruvian restaurants or BRU within an hour of us, so that was a fun evening for us. We spent a long time looking at the strollers and trying to decide what's the best choice. We're excited about preparing for Eleanor, but we still miss our firstborn.
There have been several times recently that I've almost called this baby Ada, and Hunter says he's done it too, but I guess that's what any parent goes through when they have a second child. I know I've been called by my brother and sister's names many times! I still always turn and look when I hear somebody call out "Pam!" in a public place. (Nobody ever says "Japheth"!) Anyway, there's a little bit of guilt when I almost call Eleanor by Ada's name, because it makes me feel like I'm trying to replace her. I know that's not the case, but I guess these feelings are natural. I just hate that I'm in the position to have them.
3 comments:
I hate that you are in the position to have those feelings also. I was thinking of my husband this morning and in my head I called him Gregory. I think it is natural because our babies' names are always in our hearts. I'm glad you saw Ada's sign and that you enjoyed your weekend away with your hubby.
I'm so glad you were able to see Ada's sign and learn more about the "big cat" that lives there. Big hugs to you about calling Eleanor Ada; it's bound to happen.
Wow, the big cat tour sounds like a lot of fun! I'm glad that you got to see Ada's sign...
I think its natural that Ada's name is going to slip sometimes when referring to Eleanor. She could get confused when she's a baby in the outside world, though!
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