Grace is like a little cat
The gift of life with Otto
I have told more than one person that I think my cat Otto might be an angel sent by God to keep me safe and sane. It is only kind of a joke. Like Clarence in It’s a Wonderful Life, Otto appeared in my life out of nowhere, entirely by surprise, seemingly with the mission of pulling me back from the brink of despair. I am sometimes amazed by how much I love this little creature who cannot speak to me, does not know my name, and probably thinks of me as an exceptionally large cat who stupidly walks around on two legs and exists entirely to care for him. But sometimes I’ll look at Otto—who is never too far out of my sight—and my eyes will well up with tears because he is just so good, and his presence in my life is such a gift.1
Otto was a literal alley cat. One Saturday morning in fall 2022, I woke up early with the inexplicable (and rare) desire to deep-clean my apartment. When I took a bag of garbage to the trash cans out …