Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Preoccupied by time passages

Now that I'm back at work, and The Big Project is almost wrapped up, I am able to search the internet at lightening speed for the arcane and frivolous. Today I discovered Kitten Rescue Cam, which captures shelter babies doing their thing at Kitten Rescue in Los Angeles.

They are awesome cute, no doubt about it. But they have me feeling melancholy about my old Joe. My big old tub of guts. My dear, sweet 20-year old tomcat is dying. He's in no pain now, and no major change in his condition is predicted for the time being, but the fact is, he is very old and has irreversible kidney disease.

Looking at these kittens, I feel a longing. I adopted Joey from a local shelter when he was (best guesstimate) a three-year-old. So I never saw him as a kitten. How I wish I had! I've seen him move from a young adult, lean and always eager to rough house, to a fat middle-ager who discovered the joys of sunning his big belly in afternoon light, to a sedate senior citizen who wants nothing than to curl up beside me and purr. But I never saw him as a kitten.

This is how I imagine he looked, soft and tiny and just learning about the world around him.

Joey is one of the gentlest creatures I've ever encountered. What a privilege it would have been to have seen his precious soul every day from beginning to end.

2 comments:

  1. Having gone from sedate older kitties to ... Zippy, I can say without hesitation that kittens are cute to watch, a definite challenge to have at home. It's possible Z is out of the norm as I don't remember the kitties I had (and I had many) to be like this when they were young but still, there's a lot to be said for sedate kitties. :)

    However, I will say that Z has brought an enormous amount of fun and laughter into our house (watching him chase a laser pointer is one of the highlights of our life) so I can't say that it's not worth it. Just a bit of havoc, is all.

    I so get how you feel about Joey. Lucie was 20 when she shuffled off and I miss her still. (I miss ALL my kitties but she was with me the longest and was my lovey sidekick.)

    Hugs to you and all your babies!

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  2. Poor Pal Joey. I'm glad he's not in discomfort. He would have been a very sweet kitten, full of mischief and curiosity, I'm sure.

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