I was so excited, and nervous about my new Highlander Kitten's arrival. She was flying into the Norfolk International Airport at 7:11 p.m., a Saturday night. I called Delta Cargo twice, once on the morning when she was to arrive. I thought I would be picking her up at the Cargo Building, but my updated flight information included a Gate Number. So I called Delta Cargo again and they told me no, to pick her up at the Cargo Building, but it would probably be a two hour wait for them to take her off the plane and get her over to Cargo. (What the What?!)
So I checked my route, gave myself plenty of time to get there, to be there when she landed. I figured if I talked to the Cargo people and told them I was waiting for a little kitten who had flown by her little big self from Alabama, that they wouldn't make us wait 2 hours to meet each other. It had already been an all day flight for my little baby. The Norfolk (ORF) Cargo facility is off a windy, narrow, two lane road. Cargo is in one bend in the road. If you drive past it in the direction I was coming from, you have to go all the way to the Airport to turn around. Then if you know how most airport traffic loops around, it's the same there. Yes, I drove past Cargo, because I wasn't sure that it was what it was. There was a big sign at the entrance indicating no parking except by authorized whatever. So I decided to go a little further up the road. Oops. I had been at the right place. Dag! So after I got back out of the airport loops and made my way back around the windy road and found Delta Cargo, I also found out that it was closed.
Fortunately I saw a marked Police Cruiser patrolling the lot and flagged down the Officer to ask about Delta Cargo. I frantically told him I needed to pick up my kitten, she couldn't stay there all night. He told me to go to Baggage Claim at the Airport. I told him that they had told me on the phone to come to this Cargo Building. He told me no one is ever there this time of night, so go to the Delta Ticket Office or Baggage Claim and they could help you.
Well by this time it was just after 7:11 p.m. So much for my plans to meet her on arrival. I drove back to the airport, got confused on the turns and ended up at Departures, not Arrivals. I was pretty anxious by this time. I pulled into the first lot I saw, for Departures. At this point I figured I could walk or run faster to get to the right section of the airport instead of drive there. I could carry a tiny kitten, right.
I parked near the exit, near the building, and ran up to the cashier. I told her I know that her parking lot was marked Departures, but I needed to pick up my kitten from Delta Baggage in Arrivals, could she tell me how to get there. She said not to worry. She gestured to a doorway on the other side of the 3 traffic lanes right across from booth, "Go in there, and it will be right in front of you, straight across the lobby." She was right. I was really close.
I entered the lobby, people were milling about waiting for baggage, friends and family, meeting and greeting. I saw the Delta sign across the room. As I approached I saw boxes that would be picked up to go to my job by couriers, and next to them a small animal carrier with a tiny tan, brown and silver face, round, amazing hazel eyes peeking out. The kitten looked me right in the eyes as I said "Lucy." She meowed back at me, "Yes." She knew I was there for her. She was waiting for me. Maybe we were waiting for each other all our lives. It was that kind of instant bond.
I had been so worried she wasn't going to like me. What if I adopted this fancy cat and she didn't want to have any thing to do with me. Wow, was I wrong. Sometimes I wish I had taken a picture of that first moment I saw her in the airport, but though I didn't snap a shot to share, that moment for me will forever be imprinted in my heart and memories. I think she will remember me rescuing her in the airport that night too, or as all pet people think, when we rescued each other. I refer to my thinking that she may have thought of me as rescuing her, because she had been with her Momma Cat and siblings and her human family until she had been plucked from her Momma that morning, and put on a plane to come live with me. I am sure that would be a curious adventure for any creature. And Lucy just trusted me right off. Of course the breeder had to trust me to take good care of this wonderful kitten.
And that was just the beginning of the greatest Friendship and Adventure ever.
💗 I love Lucy 💗 And Lucy loves Mommy 💗
YouTube Video of my First Night with Lucy, the World Famous Highlander Kitten Cat
Lucy was bred at the Love Branch Cattery in Toney, Alabama. You can also visit the LoveBranchCattery on Facebook.
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