My Spooky Girl

My spooky little girl.

We've been through a lot together.

My spooky girl, Azura, came into my life 3 years ago, during one of the darkest periods I've ever lived through. I was alone, in a deep depression, and in desperate need of love. Azura changed my life.

I mean it. We've been through a lot together.

Just like me, Azura is fiercely pronounced in her personality (I believe it's called Tortitude, for her) which includes her never entertaining the idea of a real costume. So, for our first Halloween together, we settled for a photo op with this Halloween-themed boa.

Since then, we've spent 3 years together as best friends. Twin flames. Soulmates. Whatever you want to call it.

3 years of filling my once-vacant home with life and laughter, giving me something to come home to after working long hours at the restaurant. 3 years of cuddles, purrs, trills, and ear-piercing yowls when I dare to close a door. 3 years of teaching me patience and unconditional love.

In 3 short years, Azura has brought a kind of magic into my life that I never knew was possible.

I'd like to think our relationship is special. Anyone who knows Azura and I knows that, just as obsessed as I am with her, she is equally as obsessed with me. I can't relate to those cat memes about them hating their owners–Azura wants to be by my side at all costs. She trusts almost no one but me.

To know Azura and I is also to know that we are weirdly similar. Weirdly.

You know how some people say that after a while their pets begin to look like their owners? Well, we've put our own spin on that one too: Azura and I literally have the same personality. I mean, truly, almost identical. It's the strangest thing.

As a spooky girl myself, I've always had a tendency to have an angst towards the world, and sure enough, Azura is the moodiest, broodiest cat I've ever known. A little black raincloud, she loves to sulk and pout about nothing. (Nothing! Believe me, this cat is more spoiled than a child.)

Her anxiety mirrors mine, her curiosity mirrors mine, even sometimes her movements mirror mine.

Now, here's where it gets weird: there are some really specific similarities.

I have restless leg syndrome–it sucks, whatever. But Azura? Since the day I got her, unless she is fast asleep, wags her tail constantly–and I mean CONSTANTLY. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. There have been times I've thought her tail had to be mechanical the way it moves so infinitely. I've never seen a cat wag their tail so continuously. I don't know if this is a thing, but I like to call it restless tail syndrome. (See what I did there?)

Musically, I'm a metalhead. I always have been. I love heavy metal, metalcore, death metal, almost any genre of music that prompts people to say, "Can you please turn that screaming junk off?!" Well, you guessed it: Azura is a metalhead too. Just not quite in the same way I am.

This cat–and I kid you not–is obsessed with anything made out of metal. Necklace? Yup. Earrings? Hers. BOTTLECAPS? Her absolute favorite. Paperclips? A close runner-up. But really, any strange, obscure little shard of metal–from the tops of hangers to bolts and screws, cutlery, and zippers on my clothing–is like catnip to her. She'll come running across the house if she hears the slightest *ting* of something metal. Expensive toys? Forget them. Give this cat a scrap of metal found in your garage, and she's set.

As someone who's always loved the darker side of life, the sad and creepy and ugly parts, I know without a shadow of a doubt that Azura has come from somewhere made of pure love and light.

I am not a spiritual or religious person by any means–but, if we are somehow made of stardust, surely Azura and I once shared the same star in a galaxy millions of years ago, before our souls came back to be reunited on this Earth.

To my spooky girl, my moody broody, my heavy metal cat; whose eyes get wide at the sight of a bottlecap, whose ears perk up as soon as she hears the scraping of a knife against a hot, buttery piece of toast, and whose purr-box goes into overdrive the second she jumps into the bed for cuddles with her mommy; you are everything.

Happy Halloween, Azura. I love you.