Momentous

I think I've mentioned before that Stella, our younger cat is not very keen on human contact. Lilly has always been a fusspot and a lap cat but Stella is far more reserved. We've always put it down to the treatment she received before she and Lilly were rescued. About 5 or 6 years ago she began to jump up and walk across my lap quickly, but never settled. Since we moved into this house 4 years ago, she has become more relaxed and spends more time downstairs with us in the evenings. Within the last year she has been content to spend extended periods of time on the arm of the sofa or chair where I am sitting and within recent weeks has also been known to lean against my head if I'm lying on the sofa.

But this evening...

This evening, she jumped up onto the sofa where I was stretched out, climbed onto my lap and then lay for a full 5 minutes along the length of my legs, purring loudly and letting me stroke her head.

It's taken 9 years to get to this point and I wanted to freeze time, to keep that moment for ever... I know it's stupid and "it's only a cat" (as a number of people I know would say), but it was truly a momentous occasion and ranked with the big declarations of love in my life (even if, as I suspect, it was just her desperation to get me to feed her...)