Big news! Vanna has been out the past two nights.

For those of you unaware of my cat situation, N. and I have two sweet 12-year old cats, Vanna and Sherlock.

We've only had Sherlock for 2 years. He is very sweet to us, but for unknown reasons, he HATES Vanna. As in, tries to kill her anytime they're together. She has had companion male cats before, and gotten along fine with them. We spent over a year trying to help them get along or just co-exist, consulting the net, friends, vets and animal behavior Phd's to no avail.

So we gave up. We separated them...Vanna gets the master bedroom/bath, and Sherlock the rest of the condo. Vanna is very content with her space. Sherlock tries to get at her whenever the door opens, but using a water pistol, we've mostly convinced him that is a bad idea.

So for the past two nights, Vanna has asked to come out. She'd never done that before. Even when Sherlock was at the vet and the door was open, she wouldn't come out. Now, she's asking to come out and coming out! We put Sherlock away in the bathroom, and she wandered the condo...relaxing in the living room, visiting N. in his studio, chasing fairies in the dining room...even going out in the hallway! It is glorious!

We can't figure out what made these two nights different...maybe she only comes out when it's about 90 degrees? But we have a/c...Maybe she heard N. and I bawling over a very sad email and wanted to cheer us up? No way to tell. Maybe if she comes out more, we can see a pattern.

It reminds me of that Robin Williams movie..."Awakenings"...when the catatonic patients "wake up" for a brief period. I hope this goes on longer than that. It is so wonderful to have her out and about!