|
"Man's fate is like that of the
animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the
other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the
animal....All go to the same place, all come from dust, and to dust
all return. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward, and if the
spirit of the animal goes down to the earth?" ECCLESIASTES,
3:18-21
Long ago for my daughter's sixth birthday, she begged
me for a kitten. We went to the local animal shelter, and they had a
wonderful "kitten sun room", in which there were large windows and
cat trees and toys, and they let all the kittens in there to play
and display their antics to the potential adoptive parents. We
enjoyed watching the kittens at play, but there was one particular
calico that was completely wanton and wicked....this kitty was like
a Tasmanian Devil with her playmates, a total whirlwind of mischief
and fun. I decided that was the kitten for my daughter.
This little dickens was friendly too, and took to us
like it was meant to be. I tried to get my daughter to give her a
name, but all she could come up with was "Kitty". We finally decided
on "Miss Kitty", after the character in the western TV show from the
sixties.
Miss Kitty was indeed a wanton little she-devil. She
would tear up and down the stairs with break-neck speed, and no
stuffed animal in my daughter's room was safe from her. She was like
a lioness stalking her prey with those poor toys, and she tore up
more than one. Her favorite victim was a stuffed cat about her size,
and it tickled me to no end to see this kitten take on her opponent
with complete savagery. My daughter would get upset, so I had to
wait to let Miss Kitty play with it when she was at school for the
day (oops, the secret's out now, after all these years!!).
Miss Kitty was my constant companion during those days,
and she loved to take walks outside with me. No matter how far I
walked from the house, she was right by my side, intrepid and
trusting. After I became pregnant with my second child, Miss Kitty
was a calm presence during all those bouts with morning sickness.
She was particularly fond of the bassinette, and felt it was her
special cat bed.
The night I was in labor, Miss Kitty stayed right by my
side like a concerned nurse, and she never left. With incredible
patience, she sat on the arm of the chair I was in and waited with
me, eyes half closed. I still picture her in my mind to this day,
occasionally looking at me as if to say, "don't worry, I won't leave
you".
However, once the baby came home, Miss Kitty became
incensed. No longer was the bassinette her special bed. It now
belonged to that pink, hairless thing that screamed and took all of
my attention. Miss Kitty let it be known that she was not happy, and
I had to keep her away from the baby at first because I feared she
might do her harm.
Eventually, however, Miss Kitty got over it. I decided
when the baby was six weeks old to get Miss Kitty a friend, so we
got a two month old purebred Seal Point Siamese which we named
Sophie. Sophie and Miss Kitty became fast friends, tumbling and
playing and generally being good company for each other while I
busied myself with motherhood.
When the baby was two, we moved out into the country.
There was a highway running by our house, and some of the people who
drove on it would go way over the speed limit, and I worried
constantly about it. Because there was a popular recreational lake
at the end of the road, most of the people were in a rush to get to
their fishing and drinking and boating, and didn't seem to care that
people lived along that highway, that had children and pets.
One day a family with a little girl about my daughter's
age moved in across the highway, and so we would always have to
escort them back and forth for play dates. One day my daughter was
across that road playing with her friend, and Miss Kitty could hear
the girls playing and laughing. They saw her and called for her to
come across and join them, so, in her friendly and trusting way,
Miss Kitty jumped out onto the highway to join the girls, and was
instantly crushed by a speeding truck.
The girls screamed in horror and I heard them, so
I came running out and saw my poor baby cat dead on the highway. As
all you cat lovers know who have ever lost a beloved friend, there
were many tears shed over the loss. (I still get teary-eyed when I
think about it, and it’s been more than twelve years.)
We gave Miss Kitty a decent burial, and picked lovely
spring flowers for her grave. Over the ensuring days I grieved for
my dear friend. A girlfriend at work told me that cats always know
beforehand that it's their "time" to depart this earth, and when
they see that opening into the new dimension, they leap forward
without fear. I didn't know much about that, but I did know that
Miss Kitty left this earthly pale rather suddenly and had no plans
on doing so.
A few days after Miss Kitty's death, I was sweeping the
floor in the kitchen and I felt a cool breeze flow over my feet and
ankles. I saw a shadow flit by out of the corner of my eye, and I
looked down the hallway just in time to see what looked like Miss
Kitty trotting down the hallway and into my bedroom. My jaw
literally dropped in disbelief, and I dropped the broom and ran to
see if it was her, or maybe it was Sophie and I was just seeing
things.
There was no cat in my room, and I looked
everywhere....under the bed, in the closet, the bathroom. Sophie was
sleeping peacefully in another room. I was left with the distinct
impression that it was Miss Kitty, and she was still around the
house.
Over the coming months, I would feel a cool breeze
around my legs and then a "shadow cat" would slip by, and I would
smile and know it was the spirit of my sweet little kitty. After a
year it stopped, and I imagined that Miss Kitty had finally come to
accept that she was no longer part of the physical plane and she
moved on to the Creator that loved her more than I did.
I'm sure there are skeptics out there who doubt my
story. So be it. Those of us who have lost a beloved pet and have
been witness to the love that pet had for us transcending death in
the form of visitations feel that we have been given a special gift.
The knowledge that love never dies is indeed priceless.
|
