Last night around 10:15 PM, we said goodbye to our cat, Lilo. She has been a wonderful addition to our family, and at the risk of a total downer of a post to this blog, I wanted to dedicate a quick tribute.
Lilo was not quite nine years old, healthy and happy. She wandered into my room last night while I was reading in bed (she usually sleeps with my ten year-old son, David), and groaned. I jumped out of bed, throwing on my clothes, and called for my husband.
Before I was fully dressed, however, my husband realized Lilo wouldn't make it to the vet. She was taking shallow breaths, spaced far apart. He held her in his arms, and we pet her soft smooth fur and spoke to her gently. She relaxed, and stopped breathing, and then her heart stopped.
She was nearly the same age as my daughter, Kate. We brought her home from the cat colony, thanks to my sister, who volunteered there during college, when she was nine months old, Kate was 18 months and David was three. We added two children during her time with us. She witnessed my husband's long deployment to Iraq and comforted me while he was gone. She had three other cat-mates while she lived with us, and was a mellow tempered good cat. She was very picky about her cat litter, but not about her food. Her favorite toys were those little fur-covered mice, which she would play with till they were nothing but plastic.
We loved her as part of our family, and she will be missed terribly.
I wish I knew the words to help offer comfort, but I don't, unfortunately. She looks like a cocoa colored version of my goofy Kittyhawk, Camas Houdini Meadows.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you were able to grab your camera and snap that picture of Lilo taking a nap on your Tyler Grail doll. That is just too cute, and the perfect way to remember her.
I just wanted to say that I'm extremely sorry for the loss of your cat. Back in the summer of '08 I lost my dear kitty friend, too, who I had since I was about 8 (I was almost 18 when she passed). Thanks to a rapidly-growing tumor that started to protrude from behind her eye, she didn't live as long as she could have. She was a beautiful black cat with bright green eyes and I miss her dearly. Her name was Magic, but we called her Maggie.
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