3 Years Ago Today

I wasn’t going to write about putting the Boyo to sleep three years ago today, but there were too many omens that suggested I should. I had planned on letting his deathday go by privately. I was going to have some tuna and maybe a shot of rum to commemorate him but not write about it. I was going to write about having a cold or the swine flu and how I blame MJ, personally, for bringing diseases she collects from her students. I’m surprised we haven’t all gotten cholera. School children are filthy and should be burned. Anyway, LMJ and I were on our way to the post office and Publix when the neighbors’ cat Familiar showed up. He’s a magnificent ebony beast, a big nasty tom. I haven’t seen him in a few months, and it was a little bit strange for him to show up out of the blue today – specifically today. I don’t mean I saw him scampering through the backyard. I mean he came up to LMJ and me and, just out of reach, hung out with us a little bit. He’s always been a little bit afraid of me because it used to be my duty to scare him away from CG’s cat Wesley, who he outweighed by at least ten pounds. Not today though, today he showed up to let me know that I should show Mr. Kitty’s memory the proper respect. LMJ was funny. As Familiar walked up to us, she told me that he was hungry and we should feed him. I don’t know if she was communicating with him telepathically, but I doubt he would have disagreed. He likes her a lot. He’s a full fledged cat so he couldn’t hang around shooting the catnip with us too long, and he went on to do whatever it is he does and we got in the van. He stopped to scratch his ear and I pointed it out to LMJ. She suggested that he needed some calamine lotion. I’m glad I had this little encounter with Familiar. It reminded me that I shouldn’t let the loss of my cat recede further and further into the background. It’s important to remember that he was gone before LMJ showed up, and that part of my life is fading in my memory. I wrote about him last year and the year before, but this year he was on the verge of not making the cut, and I’m glad he did. Right now, I hope he does next year too.