FixNation is pleased and proud to announce that our Co-Founder and Corporate President, Mark Dodge, has introduced “Mark’s Monthly Meow” as a new feature of our Website. This is Mark’s monthly blog on matters we trust our followers and viewers will find interesting and enjoyable to read. His first installment, on how Mark became a Catman, is presented below. Photos taken by Mark on his 2010 Africa trip.
I would like to share with you how I became enthralled with cats…To do so properly, please let me set the scene.
I was born on the leading edge of America’s Baby Boom, in May of 1946. By the time I was 8 years old, it was still the early days of that mesmerizing new medium – broadcast television. Between the books, magazines, school materials and TV shows of the day, I found myself becoming more and more drawn to stories and articles about wild animals, particularly the world’s Big Cats. Seeing images of and learning about tigers and jaguars in their jungle habitats, and the lions, leopards and cheetahs of Africa, all for the first time, was truly fascinating – virtually to the exclusion of all other interests I could have developed.
While, as indicated, I was an admirer of all species, the Big Cats were simply my favorites, combining, as they did, sheer, muscular beauty; amazing athleticism; juvenile playfulness; incredible hunting, stalking and survival skills, and, for me, many other endearing qualities.
When I was 8, I lived with my Mom in what was then known as “Navy Housing”, in our case then a single-story duplex. I say “with my Mom” because {a) I was (and remain) an only child, and (b) until I was 10, my Dad, a career Navy man, was mostly away on duty assignments. At the time, my previous exposure to domestic cats had been minimal and peripheral, then, one bright and sunny morning:
Above me, on an outside windowsill, I saw standing a gorgeous, short-haired, buff-colored cat, facing me at an angle, with the sunlight illuminating both his face and the side of his body facing inward. My instant reaction was realizing how much this creature had in common with the Big Cats – a lean, muscular body, an obvious sense of independence, facial features virtually identical to those of the wild ones, calm confidence – all completely unlike dogs, the only other pet I knew about then.
So, the stunning similarity between wild and domestic, borne of my prior studies, changed my view of cats, literally on the spot, from benign indifference to admiration and curiosity, causing 8 year-old Mark to immediately ask his Mom if we could get our own pet cat. She, having grown up with cats in New York, willingly accommodated my request, and soon thereafter a year-old, long-haired, Calico female we named Chloe, joined our family.
This led my young, impressionable mind to discover that cats possess not only a bundle of intriguing “heritage features” but also a multitude of endearing qualities completely unbecoming of big wild cats, which all of you reading this know well – their accessible size, cuddlesome nature, soft, pettable fur, the charming habit of purring to show love and contentment, that amazing ability to hook us with those gazing, blinking eyes, their sheer beauty – and my favorite, seeking me out and jumping into my lap or bed, then expressing their joy over hearing my cooing words of love and being caressed, then falling asleep with our bodies touching…All-in-all, a unique and marvelous combination that, 59 years ago, converted admiration and curiosity into pure, unadulterated and everlasting Love.
So that’s what started me on the blessed path of becoming, as an adult, a “Cat Man”, and more recently; Meowman Mark…Stay tuned for more in future editions of Mark’s Monthly Meow.
