Late last night Paul and I lost our best friend. Our beloved kitty, Max Leonard passed away after giving us 20 years of joy and love. We will never forget him and I think no one who ever met him will either. People who don't love animals would never understand this, but Max was truly one of a kind. He was a beautiful, spoiled, loving, belligerent, 14 pound ball of fur. He was our security guard, our alarm clock, our killer of mice and the best keeper of secrets ever. He was a supremely good judge of character and if you had the privilege of being loved by him, you were truly blessed. He was not a creature that inspired indifference from those who met him.
He had diabetes for the last 5 years of his life and with that, he battled kidney disease. He was only really sick for about a week of his whole life. That's more than most of us can hope for. He got quite sick about a month ago and our vet was concerned that he might not have much time left. But Max, in typical fashion, decided differently. He bounced back beautifully. He seemed to feel better in the last month than he had in a while. We had an extremely beautiful and warm autumn and Max enjoyed many of those days on his chair on his screened porch, his favorite spot in the world. He had a great appetite and terrorized his little sister Sophie. Life was good. I think about it now, and I really believe he was giving us time to say goodbye in the best way he knew how. Last night he let us know it was time for us to let him go. And we did.
The weather turned cold this weekend, the north wind came and took the last of the red and orange leaves from the trees and Maxie said goodbye to us.
We will never forget.
6 comments:
What a sweet, loving and moving tribute to your beloved pet. Truly they become a part of us. Sending much love and sympathy to you and Paul
Karen
Alex & Niki send you warm and excellent healing kitten powers. They are also sending you great amounts of fur that they have deposited around the house during my last few days away!
You wrote a beautiful eulogy for Maxie. You gave him the best love and care a family member could wish for. He loved you as much as you loved him. That's the best part.
Cris and Paul, I am so sorry about Max. What a wonderful friend and unconditional love you had from Max and he had from both of you. Thinking of you, Jeanne
All my love and thoughts are with you. The pain will ease with time but Max will always be with you. Every now and then I see shadows in the house and think its my kitty. I dream about her too. She's still here in her own way and Max will be with you and Paul too.
Cris,
This is such a wonderful tribute to Max. I know that you, Paul and Sophie are missing him greatly. He couldn't have found a better place to spend his life than with all of you. As time passes, it will not necessarily get better, but, it does get a little easier. Remember that he will always be with you...in a dream, in a warm ray of sunshine that lands on his special chair on the porch, in a piece of hair found on a sweater in the closet, in all of the things that you store in your heart.
Missing him, too. Suz
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