Zuka

I forgot a few things about Zuka.

Mandy's oldest boy had given her the temporary name of Aurora. In one of the places I lived on my mission in Brazil, we lived in the "fundos," or in a small house in the back yard of a woman named Aurora. While we were living there, we met and taught a woman named Zuka.

The visit to Zuka was memorable for lots of reasons that really have nothing to do with missionary work. First, I thought her name was awesome, because I have fond memories of going to Zuka Juice in Provo with college friends (it was merged with Jamba Juice a few years later.)

Second, while we were visiting with Zuka, the balmy evening suddenly turned insanely cold! We felt it happen through her thin walls and open windows. When we left her house in our short sleeves, we thought we'd freeze despite jogging to keep warm on our way home. It hit negative three that night, and we were not prepared! I put on many layers of clothes: thermals, a sweater, pajamas, fleece pullover, hand-knit slippers, ski hat, winter gloves, etc. (I have a photo of this, but can't find it right now) And still, we were so cold that we didn't sleep all night. I remember we each only had a thin blanket on our beds.

So when Mandy's son mentioned the name he'd given the kitten, all those memories came chugging in as a long train of thought. I asked the boys, and they liked the name, so Zuka she is!

My SIL Lora commented that Zuka needs a pink or purple collar. How sad is it that when I finally get me another girl in the house, I buy her a blue collar? But it accentuates her eyes, which is a cardinal rule of accessorizing, right? And they were out of pink. But the collar is WAY too big, so we've put it away for now. So I'll be looking for a tiny pink kitten collar for sure!