the paws that refreshes

December 28, 2009: Exactly when Mom acquired her little grey cat with the big yellow eyes is hard to say, but it was sometime after the spring of 2001 when Mom and I went to Rome on holiday for a week. We stayed at a little family-run hotel call the San Pio, saw amazing sights and created wonderful memories which Mom lost over time, but which I still have for the moment. Mom named Pia Roma for the little hotel and the trip.

I also don’t recall precisely how Pia found her way to Mom. She was either discovered in the cedar hedge in front of Mom’s or given to her by a friend who lives on the East Road; I don’t remember which. It doesn’t really matter when or how they found each other. What does matter is that Pia became Mom’s best friend, her stalwart companion in the big red brick house on the hill.

Of all the cats Mom had over the years, Pia proved the oddest. In a strange and quirky way, she was the most endearing as well. She and Mom often had tea together in the morning, a ritual I captured on December 28, 2009, and entitled (tongue-in-cheek) The Paws that Refreshes, in which Pia has her share of tea from Mom’s new Christmas mug.