Their health diminished quickly and I always told myself that I would never keep cats alive for my sake. All kinds of organs were affected in both of them and as they lived so closely together, I wouldn’t have thought their closeness would end this morning but it did.
Sylvia was first as the assistant held out her back leg and it’s slightly shaved by the veterinarian. He applies a liquid and then slowly the syringe is inserted and in a second’s blink her eyes stay open. Sam is next but his dehydration is so low that his second back leg is chosen. He meows a bit and I bent down to face his eyes as they looked at mine and then his quietly remained open. It was painless for both and all done by 9:30 a.m. and I’m at work by 10:00 a.m. wondering if anyone will notice my eyes.
I thanked them both the night before as they laid on my bed. A simple “thank you” that we so often dismiss between humans. “Thank you,” I said to them for eleven years that I hope will never be forgotten. To ensure remembering, here’s a short list of “thank yous” for two small creatures that inhabited my home and my soul.
Sam, Thank you
- for interrupting important telephone calls because hearing my voice caused you to jump on me wanting immediate attention
- for making TV more fun with you near me and releasing a sleepy sigh that caused me to wonder if you died as you did the night before with the same sigh
- for grabbing my place when I only needed a little more ice
- for making morning coffee meaningful with you at my side
- for trimming my plants and then throwing up…always a joy cleaning up after you
- snuggling under the covers and kneading me with your paws causes my sleep
- for envying you while your slept…nothing in the world beats a cat’s blissful sleep
- for each time smelling and finally opening the cat friendly hatch to the front porch as though it was your the first time
- for your eyes – always wide eyed and attentive to everything I ever did around you
Sylvia, Thank You
- for being my alarm clock for years – give or take ten minutes
- for making me stretch down to pat you because of your female aloofness
- for waiting to be announced before you approached me, as only a queen would do
- for the being the very first, every time to greet me home after work
- for joining me more often as you knew you were not well
- for letting Sam get the upper hand (or paw) every single day..a classy dame
- for your secret, hiding places that you thought I didn’t know about but I knew every one
- for being the compliant one before vet’s visit; I needed to get you first into the box and then Sam
- for your watchful gaze before sleeping that watched my every move
It’s not a complete list but you get a hint of how eleven years together with how a supposedly intelligent person lives and breathes with these two totally instinctual but loving creatures called cats. I know I will live without them but living with them brought a depth, perspective, an unconditional love and clarity to a single guy.
Even in death this first night without them, I know where each one would be right now waiting to be a cat once again to me and for me to be a loving person to them and to others. Thank you Sam and Sylvia. They will never know…
A Great Gift Idea
A new book by Fr. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.
Available at Amazon.com
Paperback or Kindle is $14.95. Enjoyable reading.
Time. What a wonderfully, awkward word. Time measures the finite. What begins in one second ends in the next one.
Sleep. That glorious, peaceful prelude to what is next. Sleep. Eight hours or less of nothing less than the bliss that escaped you during your waking hours. Sleep. It’s the Godly designated time when the unconscious gets to have its way with you whether you like it or not.
Our 12 second attention span has been reduced to the smaller number of 8 says news account. A 90 year old friend tells me that he has a year to live but wishes it would be sooner.
The ten year old neighborhood kids played a game called “Seven Steps Around the House,” a silly but serious game of finding a hidden friend. We loved playing it as much as we think we continue to play the same game our entire lives.
Welcome to another Lent, the season that’s all about weighing the lives we lead. During our evaluation of weighing ourselves, please remember that Lent is totally about transformation.
The Roman villain in salvation’s history asks the Savior, “What is truth?” And even the Savior evades Pilate’s question. That elusive yet always top of our list word is that somewhere, somehow “truth” resides and we just need to unravel, unpack or “un”do something to reveal it. Yet, is “truth” absolute, subjective or situational? And if discovered, can it ever be institutionalized?
Mention February 14 and instantly think of “heart.” The saint’s day points to the organ that propels all of our blood back and forth. Interesting. Why is not our feet honored this loving day because it was the feet that swallowed our anxieties to approach our spouse of fifty-sum years? I think our arms would look good on a Hallmark card; arms that held an infant and then listened to the now-adult tell you that his four-year marriage is over. I think the eyes have it for it is the eyes that first attracts us to that person across the room – that friend of a friend, that neighbor two houses down, that bosses’ son. Yes, the eyes catch. If I had my say I’d hold out for the eyes as the bodily emblem for this yearly day. The rest of the body may play a part but, well, the eyes have it.
Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.
Soulful Muse 