Sassy

I'm not sure I realized how much of my life she was. Last night was tough. I could not fall asleep in my bed and ended up dozing on the couch with the TV on, catching bits and pieces of movies as I drifted in and out of consciousness. I don't have to check where she is before I leave or find her after I get home. I feel so lonely now. Now I remember how I felt just before I got her. Just so lonely to the point of tears. I remember it was even hard to keep from breaking down at the animal shelter as I was completing the process, due to how I was feeling in general. She was in bad shape. She hadn't been grooming, and seemed quite weak. I have proof of that now since back then when I held her for the first time, she did not meow or struggle at all. She was just lethargic and seemed to be barely hanging on. I was looking for a tortoise shell cat. They had a few and I don't think she was my first choice. She was older than the others, and definitely not as animated. But then she reached out her paw through the cage at me, and won me over. She had a bronchial infection and was a little underweight. I don't recall how long it took her to get better, but she did, and put on weight, and became a really happy and healthy cat.

She was a stray, yet she had been front declawed and spayed already so she had been someone's pet. Sassy was the name they gave her at the shelter, probably because she talked so much. (She never used her voice to get me out of bed though, polite that way!) She had been at the shelter for three weeks at least so one would think her owners would have checked by then. She was a fearless and adventurous cat, so I wouldn't be surprised if she got away from her owners and explored too far away to get back. Ha.. now that I said fearless I remember I have proof--she has chased a cat or two out of the backyard before. Pretty gutsy for a cat with no front claws.

She was really the only living thing I had daily contact with in my life, and I hers. There were many shitty days driving home that I thought to myself that well at least she would be waiting for me at the door and then she would tell me about her day. Then she would climb up the cat tree to get away from me, and then end up coming down to ask to go outside.

She was part of my life for almost two years, and I am hoping she enjoyed living with me as much as I did with her.