We had to kiss The Girl goodbye yesterday. She never recovered from some extensive oral surgery she had a month ago, as it seems there was a 'cannot be seen by the eye' mass under her tongue which chose to grow rather aggressively after the surgery. I felt relief for her, because she was not herself, sweet, purring kitty, but not herself. This is the first time in almost 2 decades that we have not had a kitty in the house, so, even this morning I had to stop myself from reaching for the cat bowl to make her daily concoction of food
She was my little Muse. The camera loved her, and over the years with the advent of the digital camera, thankfully I have some beautiful shots of that face. When we brought her home she was a little ball of gray fur who immediately threw The Old Man into a deep depression for a good year, thinking he was no longer king of the hill, but he eventually came around and kept his rightful place. She wasn't the sharpest tack in the box, and her synapses didn't quite fire off 'correctly', but, we loved her. She was a jumper. In the Rhode Island house, she would jump from the floor to a piece of furniture we have which is at least 4 feet tall, from there, she would jump to the top of the bathroom cabinets and look down at us. She barely made a sound, never broke anything, she just did it. And then one day, just like that, she stopped jumping. I think she missed her mark maybe once or twice, and knew not to attempt the impossible any more. She had the attitude of a truck driver, yet remained quite regal throughout. She made the transition to Colorado without issue (she did allot better than me!!!) and actually thrived.
The Girl aka Little Kitty, and The Old Man, aka, Big Kitty, aka Richie Havens, blessed us with their presence over these many years. We talk about Big Kitty often, and now, we will do the same, I am certain, with The Girl. Right now, I feeling a bit lost, like a piece of me is missing. I'll be fine. Most important, she is no longer 'not herself' and can harass The Old Man once again to her hearts delight.
The Techs, the Vets at Aurora Animal Hospital have to be the sweetest, kindest group of people I have ever met, and made yesterday totally okay. I cannot thank them enough for their compassion. On the upside, I have been toying with the idea of fostering. So we'll see...in the meantime, here's to The Girl, our sweet, beautiful precious little Girl cat.
Last pic taken yesterday morning...
When we said goodbye to The Old Man, my friend Sally sent me the story, in full, of 'The Rainbow Bridge'. It was a great comfort to me then, as it is today. You can read the whole story, here. And, per my previous post, it was no surprise, when my Cousin Rita called this morning...
