Father's Day: My Dad, The Cat Daddy

Where do we get our love for animals?

Sometimes I think it’s an intuitive draw to help heal trauma and sometimes I think it can run in the family.

Or both.

My parents are animal lovers, but my Dad and that side of my family would be considered the “crazy” animal people.

My Dad: The Cat Daddy

My Dad has trapped, fixed and rescued every single cat that appeared at his workplace. (Cats know where to find us!)

I can’t even tell you how many he’s actually brought home too!

Currently, he has seven cats, one dog, and five hens!

Definitely more than just a Cat Dad, maybe an “All Dad!”

I didn’t grow up with my Dad

but my brother and I would visit him every summer.

It was a big deal, too, because we were just 4 and 6 years old, on the airplane from the “big city” of Honolulu to the rainy small town of Hilo, Hawaii.

At the time, my Dad was a 24-year old auto mechanic, living in a 1-bedroom 1-bath apartment that was set up behind Leung’s Chinese restaurant.

The roof was corrugated tin and the kitchen had a big window that looked out to the busy main street.

I loved the lunches my Dad would make for us - a bowl of Campbell’s Chunky Soup with little round sirloin burgers in it and a hot dog sandwich. Not a dog in a bun, but a hot dog sandwich. It was made of fluffy white bread with the hot dogs cut in little circles, placed meticulously on the bread, almost like a Connect Four game. (Come on, my Gen X peeps. Connect Four, right?)

Just Dad, Meaning: Home

Maybe I could feel the love in the preparation, maybe it was because it was novel to be eating this kind of fun food, or maybe it was just because I was with him and my brother eating together on the floor of the living room with our food on the coffee table.

This felt like home.

At night I’d be tucked into blankets, falling asleep to the melodies of the rain playing on the rusted tin roof. I was warm, belly full, and with music in my ears.

And the next day we’d be going to visit the cats!

I wanted to share this sweet memory that came up as I was thinking about Father’s Day.

Sending love to you today and some extra, to the Cat Dads out there!

💌Love Note: Cats, food, and love have always been intertwined in my life. There’s a fun Instagram account by an artist @mj.majcha who takes images of food and turns them into cats! Check it out!