Each petal of the four-leaf clover stands for something; faith, hope, love, and luck. It requires all of these to survive Lady Brenna of Fairfax, an adventurous Bengal cat with a very unyielding personality. When Brenna entered my life I was a fairly sane individual, someone who could actually get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep each night if I chose. That all changed the day Brenna walked into my heart. I spent the first night of our life together on the living room floor, attempting to comfort her as she screamed her lungs out for attention. B.O.B. Bob slept through it all upstairs in our comfy bed. It’s very difficult to soothe an animal that doesn’t want to be touched. Things have never changed in that area. She still evades my attempts of snuggles, and I still spend almost every night listening to her howl, while attempting to comfort her. B.O.B. Bob still continues to sleep soundly through it all. Don’t get me wrong, I love this little ball of fur above all else in this world, and my love for her comes before most people I know; she is, however, completely bat-shit crazy.
The greatest love of my life, other than B.O.B. Bob and Crazy Psycho Brenna, is baking. It is something that I usually find soothing, because it allows me to spend time with myself, without the outside world crazies working their way into my head. My mom handed down her love of being in the kitchen to me at an early age. I would sit at the kitchen table with my Tupperware Children’s Mixing Set, attempting to copy her with whatever scraps she would give me. I was completely head-over-heels in love with the mini pastry sheet. I’m quite sure that none of my creations were ever actually edible, however, my mother’s cooking was not always wonderful either. The one thing she didn’t have to worry about was keeping a cat out of the oven. Sometimes curiosity is just not a good thing. Sharing a kitchen with a four-legged ball of fur creates certain challenges. The main one is that every food that is poisonous to a cat, is of course the one food that will always roll off the counter and be swatted around the kitchen floor.
In addition to concocting recipes, crafting brings a great amount of pleasure to my life, but in a whole different way. I love holding a finished project in my hands, knowing that I’ve put a little bit of myself into every design I conceive. It’s even more fulfilling when I give that project as a gift, seeing someone else’s appreciation of my abilities. I absolutely adore gift giving, and feel homemade gifts are always the best, especially when they are wrapped up in pretty paper. The process of getting to that finished project, on the other hand, is not always so wonderful. You see, Brenna also shares my love of crafting, and this makes my life a complete living hell. She loves to play with ribbons, step on every piece of expensive pretty paper, and dig around in plastic containers overflowing with supplies. Let me just give you some advice right now. Glue guns cause great pain. Always. Thankfully, Brenna seems to understand this. It is the one crafting tool she absolutely has no interest in. (If only I were as smart as her.) Everything else is up for grabs, making my life completely miserable. You try ripping double-sided tape off of a cat without getting mauled.
Every craft project I attempt, each recipe I create, and every gift I give, will always have one thing in common. There will almost always be cat hair involved. Brenna sees it as her duty to make this happen. It is her mission in life to be right there beside me, helping me create wonderful creations, even if I don’t always see it as a positive thing. Brenna and I invite you to share in our domestic adventures with one another. I promise it will not be a dull journey.
Lady Brenna of Fairfax – September 11, 2003 – October 25, 2021
Sadly, we lost our beloved, sassy, larger-than-life Brenna in October of 2021.
After just two days without her, it quickly became obvious that I was not the kind of person who could function without the sound of little feet in the house. I am not afraid or ashamed to admit that I just was not functioning well, and thankfully, my dear sweet B.O.B. Bob understood that we were going to need a new furry creature in our life if I was going to get out of bed in the morning.
There really was no time to prepare or plan for life without our sweet Brenna. One week she was old, loving, yet still functioning from day to day, and then the next week she was ill and declining so fast that it was heart-wrenching to watch. Saying goodbye to her was definitely one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, however, seeing her in pain and suffering was definitely not an option we could live with.
So, after over 18 years of love, scratches, forehead kisses, and much kitty attitude, it was with great sadness and many oceans of tears that we had to say goodbye to Miss Brenna. Never has there been a cat quite like Miss B. She will be missed every single second of every single day and life without her will never be the same. I thank God for every single moment I was blessed with her in my life. She truly was a special lil’ treasure.
Lady McKenna of Herndon
Above I mentioned how I am just not the kind of person who can function without the sound of little feet in the house. Shortly after saying goodbye to Miss B in October of 2021, we welcomed McKenna (Lady McKenna of Herndon) into our home. Like Brenna, McKenna is also a Bengal, however, she is a brown marbled Bengal and definitely has her own lil’ unique personality. She is certainly helping to heal our hearts every day, however, we often find ourselves confused and amused by her. We’ve only had a few months together, however, we have come to adore her, even if we don’t quite yet understand each other. I have faith though that we will indeed get there eventually.
