Yep, it's has been a long while since I posted anything. I certainly plan on getting back to it now that my life is getting back to normal. What a summer! I did end up doing a show, and am so glad I did. God must have known (duh) that I should be back in the professional acting world and that we really could use the money. So I found a job at New Candlelight performing in ANNIE and serving tables. Not completely glamorous, but fun and rewarding nonetheless. I was in charge of a very successful registration table for our church's VBS program, had my Dad's 70th birthday party (can't believe my Dad is 70!), had a few short getaways to the shore, a B & B, and a really hot one to Williamsburg (all to remain sane), working on getting the kids back to school, preparing for our final real vacation of the summer, and saying goodbye to my cat/friend/constant companion Petey aka Pissy cat. What a summer.....
I got Pissy cat when he was a tiny kitten, no bigger than my hand, a month before my 18th birthday. It was silly at the time since I was planning to go to Europe in June and then away to college. That summer was certainly my rebellion rollercoaster at my parent's expense and after I got back from Europe, decided I didn't want to go away to school. I ended up at Widener and commuted from home. Even though I wasn't home much, Pissy cat was my cat and certainly made it known. He was so bad. He would tear through the house, jump up on everything he wasn't supposed to. Would "hunt" people as they walked by attacking their legs. He would lay down on the kitchen table (bad cat) , we would squirt him with waterguns and he would just look at us. He would get outside (bad cat) and end up with fleas. We would take him to the vet, and they were scared of him. They put "vicious" in red tape across his file. I moved out of the house when I was about 20 into an apartment with 2 girlfriends. I brought Pissy cat with me. It was not a good space for him there, so when my brother Jimmy and my future husband Jason got an apartment together, Pissy cat moved in there. He was not real keen on Jason at first and showed his jealousy by biting him alot, eventually they tolerated each other. Pissy loved that apartment, it was on the 7th floor and he loved laying in the windows hunting the birds, playing with his ball everywhere, running down the hallway to the laundry room. Jason & I got married, moved to NJ and into a townhouse. Pissy was not happy there and neither were we. It was small, cramped, and he was stressed. When we moved to our first house in DE, he was much happier. His name had been changed to Petey by then due to Jason's nephews and it fit his just fine. He was still pretty bad, but loved by everyone who met him. He would always come to the door when you came home and was very social with visitors, especially our neighbor Maryanne. She loved Pete almost as much as we did. She helped us out both times he got sick, once with pancreatitis and once with a bladder stone. After those episodes, he was the $3000 cat! We sure missed her when we moved to PA, but Petey did fine in this house too. He was still bad, getting out, jumping on counters and tables, knocking stuff over, bugging us when we slept, all his normal stuff for awhile, until about 6 months ago when his age really started to show. His back legs started hocking on him and he couldn't jump as high or run as fast. This was around his 18th birthday. I started giving him "safe for cats" B12 vitamins. They seemed to slow down the process, but in the past couple weeks we would have to lift him up to us to snuggle on the sofa or put the bean bag near it so he could jump up on it. When it seemed he had a stroke when I got him up from the basement last Thursday morning, I knew it was the end. He was trying, but I could tell he was not comfortable and possibly in pain. We were pretty sure he was not going to die on his own (it was almost like he refused to leave me), so we had to take him in to put him to sleep. That didn't even go smoothly (typical of him) and they had to inject his heart directly. When the vet brought him back to us, I double checked to make sure he was really gone. It didn't seem real, still doesn't sometimes, but I guess it was. I missed him immediately, hated leaving him, and still miss him every day when I am home.
That day was one of the toughest in my whole life. I knew it was coming, but how do you prepare to lose something that feels like it has always been there. I can't remember a time he wasn't. He was there for every big moment in my life: graduating highschool, my first apartment, graduating college, getting married, my first job, our first & second house, having all three of my kids, our first dog, every success and failure, every joy and heartbreak. He was a fantastic gift from God to me and my family, and I especially enjoyed him for 18 years. A few people I know even got cats with his traits because of him. Jason says I can get another cat only if I can guarantee it can be just like Pete. Not sure how I can do that as it seems he was one of a kind.
All I know at this point, is that I miss my cat and I probably will miss him for a very long time.
