1. Print it out and shoot it (with nerf darts, obviously), or
2. Try writing something else and then go back to that uncooperative review, later.
I've decided to go with the latter because I'm not sure where the nerf guns have gone. So . . .
Let's Talk About Important Stuff - Kitty love:Jason of Moored at Sea has come up with a lovely fund-raising project, the Poor Kitties Memorial Fund. Apparently, Neil Gaiman and I have something in common beyond our love of books. Read that 50 times as this is likely the only time you'll see "Neil Gaiman and I have something in common." And what, you ask, might we have in common? He has a dying, blind kitty. Well, okay, mine has already perished but there have been some grieving cat lovers in Jason's sphere and this spurned him to action. Gaiman's cat is named Zoe.
Update: Neil Gaiman has posted a blog entry about the death of Zoe. She died last night, Sunday, January 24. My condolences to Mr. Gaiman.
What a crap thing to have in common with a fabulous author -- dying/dead blind kitties. But let's just try not to think about that and focus on the good.
Jason decided to hold a charity drive "in memoriam of poor kitties" and Mr. Gaiman suggested The Great Lakes Bengal Rescue as the recipient of said charity for kitties. Alternately, one can donate locally, of course. The idea is to do a kindness for kitties. This is a fundraiser I can get behind. Both our dearly departed kitties, Spooky and Sunshine, were rescues.
Spooky and Sunshine taught me a great deal about life and love. I truly believe our pets give back as much love as they're given and then some. At this point, I still get teary when I look at kittens online, so I think I need to give myself a little time to grieve before we adopt again, but a house without any fur kids just sucks. It's way too quiet. No crunching cereal noises, no meow of hunger, no purring. I'm going to donate. I hope you will, too.
You are right. It is so hard to have a home without kitties in it. But it is also so hard to make that leap to giving a kitty a new home when you just lost one that is so precious. Give it time. You'll get there.
ReplyDelete-Amy
Life by Candlelight
Amy,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. My son, however, is dying to bring home kittens. He hopped into the car and said, "To Jackson!" when I picked him up from school, today. I'm a little relieved that the place we've decided to go is a rescue, so you have to call in advance. I was not prepared. Kiddo seems to think they'll help me heal, but I want to give myself just a little space to mourn.
I don't know what I'd do without a cat in the house. If something ever happened to my Hamlet... Well, it wouldn't be pretty, I'll say that much.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, though, Zoe actually died this afternoon, Monday. The vet went to Neil's house and euthanized her. Here's his post on it. I know I've been crying on and off for a few days as I've read all of his Zoe posts.
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2010/01/and-in-end.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteYou'd sob. And, you'd be totally freaked out. It's just flat weird having a cat-free house. We'd had our Spooky since Kiddo was 2 years old (he's 18), so he's really pushing for kittens. He can't stand it, either. Love your kitty's name. :)
You must have read this post in a reader and it didn't update because I actually have an update saying Zoe died, in the middle of this post. It sounds like her death was a lot worse than Spooky's. Spooky was also put to sleep because she'd hit that domino phase of terminal illness, when things just keep getting worse. It went so, so fast. Unbelievably fast. I wondered if maybe it had to do with the fact that there were so many different things wrong with her, but it was a mercy that she was gone in seconds. It seems to have dragged on a bit with Zoe.
I, too, am suffering a home void of kitties. My kitty died a couple of years ago (she turned 16 and the warranty ran out and everything fell apart at once). I am now contemplating rescuing a couple of new kitties, but I live in a studio and don't have the space they need. I hope to move soon and when I do I'll get some new purrmeisters. You don't realize it at the time, but they really do fill a void. :)
ReplyDeleteErin,
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty much what happened to our Spooky -- she had a domino thing going. First, the inability to produce antibodies, then internal bleeding (which caused her blindness), followed by kidneys that were failing and anemia. When the vet said the next thing on the menu would be seizures, we decided it was time to let her go; she'd had enough.
Isn't it wild how quiet it becomes without a cat around? I just hate it. We have a house, although it's not a big one. We've decided we have a 2-cat minimum in these lodgings, but 2 is plenty. It's just a matter of when Bookfool will feel up to looking at kittens. Kiddo is so anxious to get new fur friends that he can hardly bear the wait. I don't think it will be long. I hope you're able to move somewhere big enough for kitties, soon!!!