😺貓教我的事 My cat Buffy taught me 3 things about Life
《村上朝日堂》有篇文章「中獎貓和槓龜貓」，村上春樹把貓依個性分兩種：「中獎」和「摃龜」。
Haruki Murakami once wrote about cats in his column of Asahi Weekly magazine. He said there’re two kinds of cats:
”Cat of Winning lottery ticket” & “Cat of not Winning lottery ticket”.
You have no idea what kind of characters your cats could be before adopting them. You might get a cat love to play with people or a cat like to be alone.
個性易與人親近，村上春樹定義為「中獎貓」。但選毛小孩做家人，無論個性是「中獎」或「摃龜」，都要相依為命，沒得挑剔。
But whatever you get,you gotta treat your cat as your own child.
但我的虎斑貓芭菲，不只是「中獎貓」，簡直是「頭彩貓」。
My cat Buffy was not only a “Cat of Winning lottery ticket”. She was “Jackpot”.
芭菲貓從我們跟她第一天見面，就開始帶給我們歡樂。
My cat Buffy brought us nothing but happy from the Day One.
當時我們要在一窩剛滿月小貓裡，決定領養哪一隻，我們把在場五隻小貓都放在我左臂上，看反應。
We had to decide which one cat we should bring home from a group of cats about 1-month-old. And we figured out a way to test them.
We put 5 of them standing on my left arm to see what would happen.
三隻小貓很快逃跑了，當我們盯著一隻不怕生的小公貓，從我左臂走到左手上大叫時，我突然覺得左耳癢癢的，原來有隻小母貓在我手臂上一路倒車退後，最後退後到站在我肩膀，在我耳際附近探頭探腦。
3 of them jumped to escape at once. As we were watching one of them walking to my left palm to shout out his anger, another female cat was trying to retreat with Michael Jackson’s moon-walk to my shoulder. Then she stood near my left ear to see what will happen.
我們帶著倒車退到我肩上的那隻虎斑母貓回家，本來要叫她台語倒車的「Bakkuh」，我太太說母貓名字應該女性化一點，最後改取了芭菲，出自影集《魔法奇兵》(Buffy the vampire slayer)。
At last, we can’t help to fall in love with this moon-walk talented cat and brought her home.
I said we should name her “Bakkuh”. It means “To back a car” in Taiwanese. But my wife disagreed with me that she thought the cat should own a female name.
So we called her Buffy after TV series “Buffy the vampire slayer”.
多年來，芭菲貓教我三件事：
My cat Buffy taught me 3 things about Life in 17 years:
1.能吃就是福：
芭菲貓從不挑食，餅乾、罐頭、甚至不小心掉到餐桌下的食物殘渣，來者不拒，只要健康，她胃口都好。
1.Eat what you can get:
She would eat any kind or any brand of cat foods. And she would grab anything falling into the ground from our dinner table.
She cherished all kinds of food.
2.凡事正面看待：
芭菲貓成為我們家人後，我們搬了兩次家、我因車禍住院一個月、去法國學酒大半年，這些主人不在家的變動，挑動貓咪敏感神經，她都很快適應。
2.Be positive:
She wanna be with us as many other cats. But you never know. She had to face her home changed or being home without us for a couple times.
We moved twice. I was badly injured in a traffic accident for one month. Then we went to Bordeaux to take wine lessons for almost a year.
My cat Buffy adapted again and again. And she was still a happy cat to bring everybody happy.
3.絕不放棄：
當她認定一件事時，芭菲貓會展現貫徹到底的決心。
3.Never give up:
No one could touch my cat Buffy after she made up her mind to do something.
芭菲貓每天晚上一定要在我大腿上端坐十分鐘，十幾年如一日，就算是她幾次生病、甚至到臨終病危前一天，爬都要爬上我大腿把這件事做到。
She determined to sit on one of my leg for ten minutes every night. That’s a steel deal. She got sicked for a few times and she managed to do it as usual.
She struggled to sit on one of my leg for ten minutes until her last night.
這三件事，除第一點徹底力行外，第二、第三點常做不到，自覺愧不如貓。
I did the first thing she taught me. But sometimes I failed to do the second and third thing she taught me.
It seemed to me that my cat Buffy was a better creature than me.
2018年第一個月，送走一個保持正面、永遠貼心的家人，很難不悲傷。
We accompanied her final ride in January. As Buffy the cat was always a thoughtful & positive family member, we can’t help falling into deep sorrow.
可能有朋友慰問，我想不出怎麼講比較好，最後記起電影《末代武士》片尾，明治天皇向歐格仁問起勝元的台詞：
「告訴我，他怎麼走的。」
「我寧願告訴你，他怎麼活的。」
It could be some friends asking how she died. It’s difficult for me to find a way to talk about this. A line at the end of the movie “The Last Samurai “ showed up in my head:
“Tell me how he died.”
“I will tell you how he lived.”
(芭菲貓飛走兩天後，晚上我起身離開餐桌，衣服被桌角勾到，回身時自己傻笑了一下，因為，勾住我衣服的，通常不是桌角…）