UPDATE (years later): Regrettably, this cat ended up threatening to attack my toddler son several times, unprovoked. The safety of my family is important, so we had to surrender her back to the SPCA about two months after we got her.
After four years of hemming and hawing, we got a new cat on Saturday:
We got her from a Petsmart store in Dallas. Petsmart carries cats from local animal charities like the SPCA. Our cat was part of a litter voluntarily given up by its owner. The SPCA claimed she may have some Maine Coon Cat in her, but we’ll see. I think she is probably just a plain, medium hair mutt cat.
I like her personality. When I have her in my lap, she’ll constantly rub and walk back and forth, up and down, showing a great deal of affection. If any of you knew the little calico cat I had while growing up, the affectionate personality is similar, minus the calico’s nutty skittishness.
Later that day, we went to Target to pick up groceries and kitten food. On the way there, I said “alea iacta est.” This Latin phrase literally translates as “the die is cast,” meaning that you just entered a game you cannot get out of by casting a die (dice is plural of die). This is phrase is attributed to Julius Caesar.
After saying that, I wondered if alea is a feminine noun. We could not remember; our Latin is rusty. The next day, we checked many sites but could not figure it out.
So I called my high school Latin teacher, Mrs. Mary Lacy. After introducing myself, she paused a bit before she recalled me. I wasn’t surprised; it had been 10 years since I last took a Latin class. But she recognized me and asked about my brothers. And yes, alea is a feminine noun.
We haven’t finalized on a name yet. Alea is nice, but it’s really close to Alec, our son’s name. Even though they are pronounced very differently, do we want our son’s and cat’s names to be that close?
Amelia hates her, but that’s normal. Sugar thinks she is a play toy. I am keeping this cat away from that dog for now.