From Ray Barta
August 2012
I said goodbye to Jessica this morning. She was around 17 or 18 years old. She found me 16 years ago.
She was hungry, had ear mites and a fever when she came into my yard in
1996.
I got her back to health and she was always a very sweet kitty.
She became healthy and beautiful.
Putting on weight as it is normal for cats to do when they have known starvation.
Over the years, she never went hungry again. I nicknamed her Bertha.
She had the sweetest face and personality.
And loved to hang out in the grass and hide.
Yesterday, she wanted outside and despite her stiff joints made it down the steps and laid in the sun for a few hours. I carried her back into the house, and it became obvious that she was not going to be with me much longer.
I was hoping that she would pass last night, as it seemed like her health was failing fast. If she had not passed, I was going to take her to be euthanized today. I am so glad that I didn't have to do that. I sat next to her on the floor for about 15 minutes this morning, as I tried to see if she was breathing and not wanting to disturb her by touching her. I found that if I stared hard enough, even the carpet looked like it was breathing. I finally did touch her, she was gone, and I said: "goodbye."
I buried her next to Fiver (who died July 1st).
Rest in peace Jessica......................
Your presence is already missed.
My other 4 cats are fairly young in comparison, hopefully I will not have to bury any of them anytime soon.
I accept that in order to have joy and love, we must have the pain of loss.
It is always worth it.
Ray
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