I’ve been told and have read that having two cats is “normal” but having three or more, well, that’s just crazy (who makes up this stuff?).

The Urban Dictionary defines a crazy cat lady as, “a woman, usually middle-aged or older, who lives alone with no husband or boyfriend, and fills the empty lonely void in her life with as many cats as she can collect in one place.  Said homes are usually very stinky and the aforementioned woman may also very likely be white trash.”  And I’ve been called a crazy cat lady.  Seriously?

I will be the first to admit that based on urban beliefs and at a glance, it doesn’t look good.   I’ve had cats throughout my entire adult life–sometimes 3 at a time, have been single more than not and other than a few exceptions, have lived alone. There have been lonely times, but never ongoing empty lonely voids, and I’m a neat freak. And yes, I’m white but not trashy. Well, there were those days back in the 80s when tight spandex dresses, really big hair and chunky plastic earrings might have sent the wrong message.

Still, I say my crazy cat lady status is questionable.

A few years ago I was out front gardening along with my 3 compadres: Topper sitting next to me watching ever snip of the clippers as I trimmed my night blooming jasmine; Lexington, lounging by my side taking in the sun and Bella perched on my shabby chic patio chair watching bees buzzing around the lavender.

A neighbor walked by and said to me, “You give a whole new meaning to crazy cat lady.” I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I took it as a compliment.  I don’t think she saw me as a middle-aged, lonely cat collector. But at the time I was 40-something, single and living alone with 3 cats. I wasn’t, however, shuffling around in my robe with cats clinging to it and living in a home with cat litter lined walls, cat clawed furniture and the scent of cat pee wafting down the hallway.

So maybe I’m a cat lady on the edge of crazy. And maybe the new meaning of crazy cat lady expressed by my neighbor is a good kind of crazy. I mean, how many people can say that their cats help them with gardening?

By the way, why aren’t single women who live alone with 3 or more dogs called crazy dog ladies?