Catnip Scented Clouds Await Him

After twenty years of being a loving and wonderful housecat, Silver Mercedes Adkins fell asleep in his La-Z-boy Recliner last Thursday and passed on to that Catnip Scented Cloud in the heavens.   He will be missed...

Some animals have instincts to know when their owners are hurting or sad and when my first love, my high school sweetheart of three years (which is an eon in teenage years) left me for a Salt Rock-ian native with a humpback, I was devastated.  I wanted to speak to no one.  I wanted to see no one.   And yet here was Silver, immediately pushing open my door so hard that it banged hard against the footboard of my antique cast iron bed.  He grumbled at me and walked in a circle and then hopped on the bed where he put one delicate foot on my arm and meowed in my face in understanding.  And with that dose of fishy breath I felt better.   He stayed with me that night.  And many night after.  

It's funny how when we're in such pain, when it feels like our heart has not only been broken but has packed up, left town and moved to Mexico to work as a llama breeder and that no person can comfort us that our pets can reach us and pull us up to realize that there's more to life than love and heartbreak.  After all - we still have cat food and cat toys to buy!

We buried him in the rock garden.   After 20 years of trying to get outside, of darting like a silver streak from between our legs, Silver has finally gotten his wish...  Rest in peace little kitty of mine...  And watch for Phoebe - you know how she likes to smack you around...