Happy 6th Birthday to Charlie Man – A Heartfelt Celebration

Happy 6th Birthday, Charlie Man!

Today is Charlie’s 6th Birthday!  You can read more about Charlie here.

I first saw Charlie’s little face on my computer when I was vacationing in Albuquerque after Rags had passed. I had a list of breeders that I’d check on to see what available kittens they had. I never wanted to put a deposit down on a litter as I’m the sort of person that needs to see a photo of the cat/kitten to know in my gut if that kitty is mine or not. I probably wasn’t entirely ready for a kitten yet, but when I saw his face – I knew without hesitation he was mine.

I’ll never forget bringing Charlie home.  After several hours of being cooped up in a carrier in the car and on the flight (I picked him up and brought him home in cabin), I brought him to my master bedroom/bath – which was to be his safe place for the next few weeks. He bolted out of his carrier, explored the room, ate and drank and started playing. By the next day he was exploring the entire second floor. By day 3, he had run of the house.  Suffice to say, Charlie is NOT shy. And it was like he knew he was home, where he was supposed to be.

It’s no secret that Charlie delights many through his antics with Trigg on YouTube.

He is so very expressive, interactive and demanding. While sometimes the demanding thing can get on my last nerve, the expressive and interactiveness is something I just adore. I feel very connected with him, knowing when he’s feeling bleh and when he’s doing ok and when he’s happy. I always could “speak” to Rags with my eyes and wanted so badly to be able to do that with another kitty. Fortunately, that happened with Charlie. I can look at him from the other side of the room and he’ll know instinctively what I want. It only gets better as the years go by and he learns more about me and me about him.

In the past two years, I’ve come to really appreciate how awfully sweet Charlie is and can be. Charlie’s presence and general aura seem to bring out a gitty-excitement in humans that make them want to squeeze him and mess around with him a bit. But if you take a deep breath and allow the gitty-ness to escape, and approach him with sweetness and kindness he melts into it and reciprocates with sweetness (and often times, more demands, knowing he has your proper attention).

Both Charlie and Trigg challenge me. Charlie challenges me by always keeping me on my toes. By getting into things he shouldn’t get into.

I think Charlie knows he was to be with me to help me with product reviews. He’s ridiculously helpful and complaint for photos and videos. I thank him profusely for that.

I hope this birthday is one of many, many more that I’ll celebrate with you.

Happy, Happy Birthday to my gorgeously energetic Charlie Mansers!

Here’s a video of the birthday hat process:

Is your kitty’s birthday coming up?  Learn how to make a cat birthday hat.