You might remember waaaaay back before Leo died that I was visited by a white kitten who said “Mikey”. I interpreted this to mean that Sweetie’s childhood white cat wanted to come back as a white kitten, and that the name “Mikey” would somehow be involved.

Well, ever since I brought my little orange-tipped creamsicle kitten home, I’m been inadvertently calling him “Mikey”.

Here’s why I intellectually didn’t want to call him “Mikey”.

1. It’s too close to “Happy”. I like two-syllable call names for pets, but they have to be unique-enough sounding and distinct enough from every-day chatter for them to recognize as their name, to actually work as a call-name.

2. I knew more than one “Mike” and have disliked most of them. I can think of one guy from my childhood named Mike who was nice, but all of them since have kind of been jerks!

3. “Mikey” is such a normal, human-sounding name! I wanted a Super Special name for my boy!

His first Mom, Tamsin, named him “Frank” after Frank Sinatra. I thought that was fitting, given all the dead musician friends we have, but “Frank” is also a very commonplace, human sounding name! It actually kind of sounds like “Mike”. It’s also one syllable, which makes it awkward to call out! FRANK! FRAAAANK!!! I’d end up calling him “Frankie” which reminds me of “Frankenstein”!

During this first week the kittens were home, we have been experimenting with a few different names, and settled for several consecutive days on “Griffin” for the dark boy and “Phoenix” for the light boy.

I said to them, “Just listen to them for a while and see if you like them!” Phoenix said, “Just call me Mikey for a while and see if you like it!”

I persisted in trying out their names, and here’s what happened. Griffin, being named after a mythical beast, began to personify his name. RAWR! Became his rallying cry! We realized that we may as well have named him “Loki” or “Chaos” – the energy of the name “Griffin” is the same! We have since reverted back to the name his loving first Mom gave to him, “Rupert”.

Rupert he is. For now, and possibly forever! It suits him, being reminiscent of a Teddy Bear and having ties to royalty.

Yesterday, Phoenix asked, “Why are you hissing at me?”

The “nix” part of his name sounds like a cat hissing. I can’t believe I missed that! Poor boy, looking for the hissing cat all this time! Well, I can’t continue to call him “Phoenix” after that and besides, I keep accidentally calling him “Mikey.”

When I asked him “Why do you want to be called Mikey?” I heard “Michael, Angel” in response.

I thought, “Oh hell no. I cannot be a psychic with a cat named after Archangel Michael! That’s too damn much!!!” Besides, Archangel Michael isn’t really my dude – I’ve talked to him a few times, but we’re not tight, not in the way I feel close to other spirit friends like George, John, Kurt or even St. Francis. If ever there was an angelic being I spoke to regularly, other than my own spirit guides, it would be St. Francis.

But last night it hit me – Not “Michael Angel” but “Michelangelo”! I had named Leo for my favourite artist, Leonardo Da Vinci. I had, at the time, considered naming him for Michelangelo, who was a close second. I had COMPLETELY forgotten about that!

And Michelangelo literally translates to “Angel Michael”. So he’s two degrees removed from being named after an angel. He’s named after a famous artist, who was named for a famous Angel.

Good enough.

Mikey it is.