The Kitties
Meet The Kitties behind the drawings
Introducing Melmo and Nobi, my inspriation for The Kitties Collection. When my husband and I moved to our current apartment, we met our lovely next door neighbor and her adorable cats at the time, Melmo and Atom, who were sister and brother. After a while, both of the cats would come to visit us, showing up at our back terrace door. Atom was usually the main visitor, coming in and getting into mischief, often resting on our bedroom chair taking naps. After Covid started and I worked from home he and Melmo became my best buds, keeping me company and lifting my spirits with every visit.
In 2022, I was staying in PTown for the summer to be part of a play in town. One night before going onstage, I received a text from their companion with the awful news that Atom was fatally ill with Lymphoma. It moved quickly, and shortly after his diagnosis, we lost Atom. We were all devestated and I couldn't wait to get back home. I was worried about Melmo losing her brother and how she was coping. Shortly after returning home from Ptown, I started to see Melmo appear at the terrace door. Her visits began to become more and more frequent and when I first became sick with Long Covid she always seemed to know when I was having a particluarly bad day and there'd she'd be, hanging out and soothing the pain somehow. I started counting on these visits.
After a while, Melmo's companion decided to adopt another cat, albeit with a bit of trepedation. Would Melmo approve? His name was Nobi, an adorable Black and White kitty with mischeif in his eyes. Melmo's reception of Nobi was icy for quite a bit. Who was he to take Atom's place, and furthermore dethrone her place as Queen? It took a lot of trying (still ongoing), but slowly Nobi was able to melt and heal Melmo's heart, and the two of them are known to share a blankie now and then. 😻