Meet Cuddly Cat

Cuddly cat is a stuffie who identifies as a genderless blob with pronouns squish/squash/squoosh.

Squish was gifted by one of my favourite people. My (then) twelve-year-old neighbour who came for a visit long after moving away.

The child was very worried that the last stuffie she gifted me to remember her by might have gotten worn out. And so, she gave me something to "hug when I missed her".

Cuddly cat now sits on my desk. Well, most of the time, anyway. Sometimes, squish is used by my son as a projectile. In other words, the boy chucks Cuddly Cat at me to test my reflexes. That's when I stash squish in the cupboard. But squish cannot be contained and once again ends up on my desk.

On most days, Cuddly Cat says nothing. Squish just smiles at me adorably while I work or mutter under my breath while aligning margins on a PDF. But on other days, Cuddly Cat seems alive with a personality of squash own. And at such times, I have no choice but to cuddle squash and think about the girl who gave squash to me.

It's been four years since Cuddly Cat arrived. The twelve-year-old is now sixteen. She's so cool I'm glad I made friends with her years ago, she wasn't as discriminating. I like to send her the selfies we took when she was eight and lived next door. It's the only way I know to tell her I miss her without feeling like a cheek-pinching aunty. The very cool teenager always replies without fail.

I can sense Cuddly Cat nod in approval. Squoosh’s job is done. I smile and weave my girl into my stories.