She had lots of names.... Bluebell (her given name) Kitties Kitties, Creeper Cat, Sweet Kitty, Biggie, she even went through an embarrassing phase of being called Raiders by Ryan and his friends, but after Little Cat came to live with us, Bluebell became Big Cat. Even after both Little Cat and Littlest Cat out-ate her and eventually out-sized her, she was still our Big Cat.
She healed my heart after I lost Isabelle, my feline friend of 18 years. Bluebell joined the family a few weeks after, and gracefully wound her way into our lives. The last thing Mike said to me on the phone before I went to the shelter to pick out a kitten was "just don't get a Siamese, they're loud!" But when the vet said "I have just the kitty for you" and put her in my arms, it didn't matter one bit that she was part Siamese. I instantly fell in love with her, and so did the rest of the family. And she wasn't loud, she was much too dignified to be loud.
She was a little unsure of her new home that first night, and hid in the leather pocket of Mike's pool table, but it didn't take her long to become accustomed to her surroundings. Before too long, she was bathing JJ, turning her nose up at canned food, and shedding enough white hair all over the furniture to create a herd of new cats.
When Little Cat (Trixie) and her bad attitude joined the family, Big Cat looked upon the whole situation with annoyance for awhile, but then reluctantly started letting Little Cat share her sunbeams by the back door. It wasn't too long before they started curling up together on the back of the sofa. Then when Littlest Cat (Nermal) came along last year, you could just almost hear Big Cat sighing and saying to herself, "Good Lord, they've brought another one home," but she resigned herself to being the wise and graceful matriarch of the Riggins kitties.
She became ill a couple of years ago, and we thought we were losing her soon, but she just wasn't ready to go. She lived much, much longer than we thought she would, in her quiet, serene way. And when it was time to go, she left in the same quiet manner. She just slipped away, I'm sure she felt it would just be undignified to stay and have a fuss made over her.
The house will be empty without you, Sweet Kitty. And when we're missing you, we'll just say "oh, she's around here somewhere...."
1 comment:
Nice, almost like reading the final chapter of a good book, beautiful cat too.
Post a Comment