Welcome, Stephen!

Hello everyone,

Stephen's start in life was a dramatic one! Coming from an abusive household, he suffered a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma when he was brought to the veterinary practice where my sister works. It was touch and go for a while, but Stephen is a fighter and he woke up to a better life.

Stephen was so young when my sister brought him home that he had to be bottle fed. "Unfortunately, most bottle-fed kittens grow up to be jerks," she explained later. With hope for a better outcome, Stephen is named after Stephen Hawking and tries not to be the jerk everyone fears, but he is also overwhelmed by the genius reputation of his namesake. In fact, because of his early trauma, he can't think too hard about any of this and instead lives somewhere in the middle.

What's happening? Where? What?

Inspirational name or not, Stephen is definitely his own cat. Because of his scarring past, he is certifiably psychotic, unintentionally clumsy, and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder,  attention deficit disorder, and whatever else is swirling in his little brain. He is also endlessly adorable and sweet when he is too sleepy to be otherwise.

Most of the time, Stephen is focused on whatever is right in front of him. He is all about now, and Mini is trying to feed that interest by teaching him meditation and gratitude practices. For the most part, though, Stephen obsesses over competitive sports.

He watches all kinds of sports, including basketball, baseball, football, wrestling, boxing, and car racing, and he loves the Olympic games. He also watches crossfit games all the time with my sister's fiance and accompanies them to their gym to build his strength and stamina. He even sets the workout playlists there sometimes, but his heavy metal tastes don't always suit everyone.

Stephen plays, too, and he plays hard. He excels at running, wrestling, soccer, and rugby, though Mew and Mini are not game for any of those activities. Still, he plays fetch every day with whoever will throw him a ball, though he's not sure what to do with that skill yet.

Sweet dreams?

Although Stephen hasn't figured out exactly who Stephen Hawking was or what he talked about all the time, his current idols are Kevin Garnett, Marcus Smart, Tony Hawk, Shawn White, Pele, Mohammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Lou Albano (because he loves classic WWE), and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (both as an wrestler and an actor). He says he's going to be an Olympian, a boxing champion, and a veterinarian, but he will probably change his mind tomorrow.

Stephen does have a softer side. He sits still for action movies, especially the Marvel, Die Hard, and Terminator franchises. On the flip side, I caught him the other day browsing through Real Simple while listening to Bach. (I think he's honing some hidden talents that he'll reveal when we least expect it.)

His lovable side is most apparent when he's ready to sleep. Being ready isn't really accurate because Stephen goes and goes until he can go no more; then, as he gets wobbly, he completes several meditative rounds of purring and stretching until he just flops over and falls asleep quickly – maybe for a few minutes or maybe for a few hours. He's unpredictable like that.

Once he is recharged, though, it's a brand new day, full of everything, everywhere, right now. Ladies and gentlemen, Stephen is ready to rumble!!!

Welcome to the family, Stephen!