Mooncake: The Tiny Muse Who Runs My Life 🐾

How It All Started ✨

There are certain characters who walk (or… nap) into your life and quietly rearrange it. For me, that character was Mooncake.

I met her in Shanghai’s Xuhui district, tucked inside the former French Concessions, a neighborhood of tree-lined streets, lane houses, old bicycles, aunties hanging laundry from balconies, and everyday magic. I lived in a shikumen lane house then: brick and wood, and two stories high.

My front door faced a longtang alleyway where life unfolded in small, familiar rituals. Neighbors swept the steps, the men met for smoke breaks, and the women met for their daily Mahjong games. I was one of only two foreigners in the alley, but somehow, I felt completely at home.

The Window Cat Who Charmed Me 😴

Along that alleyway was a tiny shop that mostly sold birds and miscellaneous pet supplies. One day, seemingly out of nowhere, the owner got a litter of British Shorthair kittens.

And that’s where Mooncake comes in.

Every morning on my way to the metro, and every afternoon on my way to the grocery store, the print shop, the nail salon, or whatever random errand I was running, I’d walk past the shop window. And every single time, there she was: asleep. Curled like a little croissant. A deeply committed napper.

Something about that softness, that laziness, that quiet little presence greeting me through the glass… I couldn’t stop looking at her.

The Impulse Adoption That Changed Everything 💛

I grew up with Rottweilers and was honestly a little afraid of cats. But one day I walked into the shop on a whim — truly on a whim — and walked out with Mooncake.

I had no plan. No supplies. No clue what came next. But she was warm and tiny and unbelievably soft. She melted into my arms in this gentle, trusting way that made me feel like I’d accidentally made the right decision.

Pretty quickly, I learned she was hypoallergenic, which felt like winning the lottery. Later, I learned she also has dwarfism. As she grew, her little legs didn’t. I only realized this when I brought her back to the shop to get her nails clipped. Her brother was still there, standing on standard-issue cat legs. Hers stayed small.

And yes, dwarfism in cats is a real spontaneous genetic occurrence. Mooncake is just uniquely herself.

Lockdown, Escape, and Our First Big Adventures ✈️

We lived in that lane house through 2021 and moved to a new apartment in early 2022. Then came the spring lockdown — Shanghai’s strictest since 2020. Life had been completely normal until then. And suddenly, it wasn’t. Vets were closed, streets were silent, and uncertainty hung in the air.

Mooncake and I needed to get out. After some very creatively obtained documents, we did. A few weeks later, we were wheels-up to Venice, then eventually to Charlotte. She even joined me for a semester abroad in Tel Aviv, then New York City, and finally — full circle — back to China for my last year of school.

She handled every flight like a seasoned traveler, always calm, always curled up in her carrier like it was her personal studio apartment.

Cross-Country Living With a Tiny Cat 🚗🌎

After graduation, we headed back to North Carolina, climbed into my yellow Jeep, and made our way across the entire country to Los Angeles.

Let’s just say Mooncake prefers airplanes to long road trips. She saw more states than most people do in a year, tolerated my playlist choices, and even posed for a photo at Four Corners. A tiny cat in a very big world.

Where We Are Now 🌼

Now we’re here in Venice, in a bungalow filled with sunlight and paintbrushes and the soft thump of Mooncake hopping onto the couch. She’s my studio assistant, my muse, and my quiet little companion who has followed me across continents and through so many versions of myself.

She may be small, but she has made my life wonderfully, impossibly big.

And yes — she still takes her naps just as seriously.

My forever travel buddy. 🐾✈️💛

With love and color,

Rosalie

 🎨@rosaliearttt