No, I'm not going anywhere! But, it was one year ago today, on New Year's Eve, that my wonderful, sweet Miss Kitty breathed her last. I loved that cat so much, and I can still get choked up over her demise. Just ask Mike. 🙂 Like Dave Letterman once said, “I'll sob like a drunk at a wedding.” Yep, no problem, I can do it. Just let me think about those last few moments in excruciating detail…..
No, I'm not recounting it, except to say that making the decision to end another living creature's life, and then being there while it's done, is not something I think I can ever do again. That was, so far, the WORST day of my life. And I am fully aware that if I can say that putting a beloved pet to sleep was the worst day I've had, I'm still a lucky person. No doubt there are infinitely worse things that can happen in a life.
Still, it wasn't good. But, almost like it was meant to be, Nimitz came into our lives on the very day we revisted a place we hadn't been since the day Kitty died. And he does so many things she did that I find it amazing. Things that no other cat of mine has ever done. He's a special little guy, and whether he was sent or whether it's just all a cosmic coincidence, I don't care. He fills a hole that was left when Kitty went, a hole that Thumper couldn't fill. When Thumper goes, I imagine he will leave a void that can't be filled by Nimitz. And maybe, like with Nimitz, we'll find another cat who needs us just when we need him the most.
Hauoli Makahiki Hou. Happy New Year.
With aloha for reading this sometimes scatterbrained blog,
Lynn
Cats are God’s CIA agents. I’m not sure we’ll ever understand them, but they are definitely on a mission. 🙂
(As I type this mine just hopped up on the desk, plunked down between me and the laptop, and put her chin on my arm.)
I think you are right. It explains so much about those moments when they are staring at something intently and you look and look and still can’t tell what the heck it is they see. 🙂
How wonderful that you enjoyed so many lovely years with Miss Kitty, although I am sorry about her death. The first cat I ever had as an adult is now 10½, and he is beginning to show a few signs of age, which makes me sad and nostalgic. We’ve been through so much together. Altough we have two other cats, they are all so different that one cannot possibly replace another.
Thank you for the kind words, Caryn. But don’t worry too much about your kitty yet! Miss Kitty was 19 1/2 when she passed! That’s old for a cat, but I have another one that’s 15 1/2 right now. And then there’s the crazy kitten, Nimitz. 🙂
You’re right that you can never replace one, but it does help to open your heart again. We said we weren’t going to get another cat, and then we found Nimitz in the gutter, tiny and flea-bitten and so cute and sweet. We were meant to have him, I think.
I hope your kitty has many, many more years left. 🙂