99 Days of Franklin

For most of the time, Franklin was not necessarily a cuddly cat. He seemed always so busy, occupied with checking things out, running back and forth, playing, or sleeping on his own. Even when we would pick him up, he was squirmy and you couldn’t really hold him in your arms for that long. But…

An ode to Franklin’s nose: Asleep, you were as pale as a sheetYet as soon as Franklin was on his feetPink you shone, as bright as BarbieEven though he could not far see Sometimes in the night, you’d touch my faceIt was wet and pulled me out of dream spaceYou’d oft be lifted up, in…

Although Franklin had love in his heart for all living things, when it came to plants he took a bit more consuming approach. He never saw a plant that he didn’t want to chew on, eat, or play with. This proved challenging for Anna’s gardening, and especially so because Franklin tended to compete with the…

Franklin loved to run in the hallway outside our apartment. We probably shouldn’t have done this. But we did it because he was so charming and curious and we thought he’d love it and he did. It started with him being curious about our front door and us just letting him poke his head out.…

Friends don’t always have the right opinions. But you tolerate their sometimes strange views because you love them. We did the same with Franklin’s attitude toward technology, against which he was frankly prejudiced. He was (by all accounts) a Luddite through and through. Some cats are downright technophiles. They are very curious about all the…

Franklin’s oddness in some ways came from how smart he acted. He was like a little person almost. Nothing sums that up more than how he, like any sensible person, preferred to use pillows when he slept. Usually, a cat sleeps wherever and often on just a completely flat surface. Sometimes, it’s a comfy blanket.…

Franklin was my cat but he wasn’t intended to be “my” cat – I had Geoff already and Anna had never really had her own cat so he really was intended to be hers. Obviously I loved Franklin with my whole heart and he was very much my cat. But one of the ways that…

So how did Franklin become Franklin(!) ? He in fact had many names, as befitting a beast of his stature. When we brought him home he in fact already had a name – Dumpling – which we did not feel fit him at all. He quickly lost that name and instead we christened him “Frankie”,…