My Dinner with Jimi, My Bedtime with Derick (for cat lovers only!)

Still from “My Dinner with Jimi”

Only those who love cats will get this story, so be forewarned!

My older cat, Billy, is a cat. No ifs ands or buts about it, Billy is a cat.

He does cat things like eating  finicky, sleeping all day and hiding from company.

My other cat, Derick, on the other hand, is a little man trapped in a cat’s body. He’s very vocal and will try to communicate with you via a series of mews, with a sound effect for every action. He’ll also try to manipulate you until he gets his way.

Derick will also watch entire television shows and movies with us. Derick’s all time favorite movie is “My Dinner with Jimi,” an autobiography about the career of The Turtles in their early years from 1966 to 1967 including their encounters with Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and Jim Morrison.

The very first time my husband and I watched “My Dinner with Jimi,” as soon as the first Turtles song came on, Derick jumped on the bed and watched the entire movie with us. The movie was so good and we all enjoyed it, we put in on again the next night. Again, Derick jumped on the bed, settled in and watched the whole movie.

The following night we put a different movie on. Derick was antsy, walking all over the bed and meowing. He wouldn’t sit still.

“Maybe he wants the Turtles movie?”

We took off what we were watching and put “My Dinner with Jimi on.” Derick settled down immediately and watched the movie.

That was the running joke in our home for a long time. If we couldn’t find Derick, we’d put “My Dinner with Jimi” on and he was soon on the bed. If it was bedtime and Derick wouldn’t calm down, we’d put “My Dinner with Jimi” on.

“My Dinner with Jimi” was the cat’s baby sitter until we finally got tired of watching the movie (we love The Turtles just as much as Derick does, but we were getting a little bit burnt on the repetition).

So my husband would say, “No, Derick, no Turtles tonight. We’re not watching the Turtles movie again.”

“Erewp,” Derick would chirp. He was so disappointed, you could just tell.

Last night, after a few years of not watching “My Dinner with Jimi” my husband put it on again.

We started to watch the movie and I said, jokingly, “We have Derick’s favorite movie on. Where is he?”

And right on cue, Derick jumped on the bed and said, “Er-mew!”

Then he sat with us and watched the movie.

“I heard my Turtles. I go to sleep now, Mommy!”

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