Dear Lola,
Three weeks ago yesterday you left us (Jan 17, 2012). It was a heartbreaking day for me. I have thought about you every day since then and I have shed tears many of those days. *Sometimes late at night and sometimes at the dinner hour, both significant periods.*
Some of those, were tears of joy that you had made me so happy during your all to brief tenure with me. On Jan 19, 2012, when after reading another friend's blog about her Scout's passing - I decided to make a list of all the gifts you gave me - gifts that I would miss and that I could recall to brighten any sad days ahead of me. I also knew on that day that I would need those for this letter to you.
Lola's gifts:
~ your presence next to my computer whenever I would log on. Sometimes you had a mission (wanting your ears 'scrunched') but mostly you just wanted to be near me. it was your form of "lap sitting".... something you only came to do for real in the last 3 years. AND always on your terms.
~ head butts. Your method of getting my attention.
~ beer-olic. You LOVED Mike's beer. (he didn't have the same enthusiasm for this behavior, but I totally got it.) your ability to know when it was 5pm and he would sit down to have his nightly beer. and to know those un-guarded moments would happen so that you could 'lick' the opening. priceless.
~ eating PetMalt straight from the tube. You refused it in any other form. once I read the ingredient list I totally got it....malt=beer=malt. smart cat. (see above reference)
~ crawling into my lap. Regardless of who/what was occupying my lap - if you wanted to be there I had best get rid of it/her/him. Books, needlepoint, your sister Lucy. gone. btw, your welcome.
~ your preference for jeans. If I wasn't wearing them, ...you preferred Mike's lap. in fact, in the early years you would leave my lap for his whenever he sat down. ouch. (words: "my cat" meant nothing?)
~ your princess-tude "don't touch me". yes, I will even miss this. life with me was really on your terms. and I came to adore this trait. (funny, I have a similar trait.)
~ your love of the bathroom fixtures. if it had water, and all 3 did...you were there whenever the water ran.
~ your dislike of the house on wheels. you hid behind the pillows on the bed. I miss finding you there.
~ sitting with your tail wrapped around your legs. your posture was regal. when I think of you now - that is the picture in my head.
* dinner time ~ you would wait until Mike was done than jump onto his legs for a rub down
* late night ~ you would come visit while I was watching TV or reading for a "ear scrunch" and you would purr. you rarely purred so this was also noted.
~ the last 3 weeks you spent on my lap, virtually every moment I was inside whether I was awake or sleeping....sort of makes up for the 10 years you refused to sit on my lap. almost.
Sweet, sweet Lola, thank you for all of these and other moments. Your sister Lucy misses you as well. It took her a few days, but now she talks, incessantly to us whenever we come through the door. There is less sadness with her here, a comfort that we would not have had you been an only child.
I know the ache of missing you will lessen, the tears will all have been cried. However, my love for you will remain true. Thank you for gracing our lives. I love you.
*******************
I wrote about Lola here, last April about her personality. You can read it here: 4/25/2011 Post re: Lola
~ Peace.
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