If you believe Cupid and Walmart, red and pink are the appropriate colors for Valentine’s Day.
But if you come to Tabby’s Place, you’ll learn the truth: Valentine’s Day is naturally green.
If Valentine’s Day means anything, it means Hoopla Green.
You should probably not try to explain this to Hoopla Green. That would require you to come right up to her cubby.
She did not invite you. Her little cat bungalow is as cozy as a heart-shaped box, but there is only room for one truffle inside. That truffle is not you.
But that does not mean Hoopla Green is hollow. In fact, she is full of sweetness, almost too full to bear.
We are not dealing with some waxy drugstore chocolate with nothing inside. Hoopla Green is a handcrafted artisanal gem, the good stuff. Her center is fondant and fondness. The recipe is her secret.
Hoopla Green is celebrating her third Valentine’s Day as the best-kept secret at Tabby’s Place.
The world outside could not keep her. That world is allergic to certain ingredients, like feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and shyness. So, the world can keep its red velvet Pop Tarts, and those pink conversation hearts that only inspire the conversation, “so this is what sidewalk chalk tastes like!”
We will keep Hoopla Green, and we will let her keep her secrets.
It is no secret that Hoopla Green is happy at Tabby’s Place. She spills that tea from her chamomile eyes, warm and drowsy.
She may not let you hold her, but she welcomes beholders from her solarium. Her rosebud nose kisses the morning sun right on the lips. She has sampled the light from every window seat and cat-tree branch, and her favorite flavor of “today” is “all of them.”
If you are quiet, you will see her angel-hair whiskers arc into a smile. If you arrive without expectations or explanations, Hoopla Green will turn peaceful in your presence.
I spend a good deal of time passing the peace with Hoopla Green, just sitting quietly together. I am pretty sure her slow-blinks are Morse Code for the lyrics to Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind,” either that or Weird Al Yankovic’s “White and Nerdy.” Either way, she is thinking of me, and that is all that matters.
It is no secret that Hoopla Green is thinking about all of us.
She is thinking about the volunteers who ask what she needs, then wait for her answer. She is thinking about the staff who coo her name like the loveliest words they ever tasted, trilling off their tongues.
She is thinking about blankets and breakfasts, which are more convincing than any love letter.
She is thinking about the fact that she never has to think about whether or not she is safe.
She is thinking that Valentine’s Day is not such a bad idea.
The population of Tabby’s Place may not be the classic Valentines. We have crooked tails, wonky kidneys, and “confidence” where “manners” are supposed to go.
We are overly excited about lunch. We are underachievers in the field of hygiene. We don’t all have Cupid’s aim when it comes to the bathroom. Some of us are even cats.
But if Valentine’s Day means anything, it means love for the imperfect, by the imperfect, in the closest recipe for perfection this side of heaven.
If Valentine’s Day means anything, it means Hoopla Green.
At Tabby’s Place, you do not need to be pettable or presentable. We do not want plastic flowers and predictable poems.
We want cats. We want each other.
We want a love as wild as an individual, handcrafted from honesty, hairy ears, and hope.
It is no secret that you can’t have the buttercream without the bittersweet.
Love is either unconditional or hollow. Fill our heart-shaped box with the real, the rumpled, the ridiculous, and the radiant.
Paint our Valentines green. Hoopla Green.