Man down

On Tuesday, June 25^th, Jenna turned 4. Sadly, it was also the day that our little kitten Sonic disappeared. Since Mitch and Sonic were standoffish at best, I decided that I should take over this week and write a eulogy of sorts, a meowmorial if you will.

It should be noted that I am a cat person. If I were to ever become an animal, it would undoubtedly be some type of cat. Sonic was the fifth cat that I have had over my lifetime and I have very much enjoyed every one of them. Cats have a lot of qualities that dog people tend to find bothersome and annoying. They are more reserved in their affection, they are independent and sometimes aloof, they don’t seem to need praise and attention as often or as much as other pets. I can understand why some people don’t like cats, but I find all of those things to be endearing qualities, probably because they mirror my own personality in many ways. I loved having a pet that could go out and do its own thing and be independent. And I suppose my foot rubbing thing is sort of cat-like.

But for all their aloofness cats still love their owners and love being around them, and Sonic loved people more than any other cat I’ve had. He was a purebred Siamese, whereas I’ve only ever had shabby tabbies in the past. I suppose that led him to think of himself as more of a person than a cat. Whenever he was inside he would follow the people around wherever they went. That meant many mornings dutifully watching at Alixa’s feet while she did her hair and makeup. It meant many evenings climbing the ladder and jumping through the windows on the kids’ bed-fort while Jarom tried to read Jenna and Bo stories. That meant the occasional nap next to or even on top of Emmy in her bassinet. I spent a lot of evenings hanging out with him on the couch watching TV after everyone else was asleep. It’s been a sad week around here. Alixa commented today that she didn’t realize just how much she loved Sonic until he was gone. Bo keeps looking out the windows while he eats and says “Sonics missing”. I keep hoping to look out onto the back patio and see him swatting at moths, just like he was doing the last time I saw him.

 I’ll miss having someone pounce on my toes as they wiggle under a blanket. I will miss having my legs attacked while I wait in front of the house for Nate to pick me up. I’ll miss seeing him shoot up a tree or chase the kids around the backyard or take a nap on his blanket in some ridiculously uncomfortable position. I’m sure we’ll get another cat someday, but I don’t know when that will be. Maybe we don’t live in a good spot to have an outdoor cat. There are coyotes and bobcats, and lots of people that seem to judge you pretty heavily for letting such a pretty cat outside. I don’t know which one of those nabbed Sonic, but I’m not sure I want to try again with another cat right now. And I don’t think that cats should be indoor only. It just seems like it deprives them of a lot of the things that they love to do. So for now we’ll probably just be sad and miss Sonic and maybe we’ll get another cat in the future. But we are sure glad that we got to have him for the six months that he was here. He brought a lot of joy into this home.