My name is Maverick, and I am a cat. This column is my very first writing job. I hope you’re not rolling your eyes because that would hurt me. As a cat, I have a lot of things to say. I hope you will love my new column. I am calling it “CAT TALES.” I hope it’s a big hit because I am going through a rough time, and my mom thinks that if I write, I can get everything I hold inside off my chest. She says it’s a lot like therapy. It will help me if I pour my heart out instead of keeping everything bottled up inside.
My mom (non-furry parent) also says keeping busy will help. I’ve been following my mom around a lot. If I don’t, she might disappear like my brothers did. If she is in the kitchen, I’m in the kitchen, and if she’s in her office, I’m there, too. Get the picture? I’m constantly underfoot, not that she complains, but she worries about me. When she’s in her office, I like to hang out on the bookcase or her work table and desk. Sometimes, I peek over her laptop at her or walk across the keyboard. I knock things over, not on purpose, but just to hear some noise. It’s so quiet in here.
When I came to live with my mom, I got two instant brothers, Alex and Winston. A few years ago, Winston had kidney disease and died. That was hard because he was so sweet. Alex and I missed him a lot. Several months ago, Alex died. His health had gone down quickly. He was 18 years old. So now it’s just me and my mom, but I hate it. I miss Alex so much. We ate together, played together, cuddled, and slept together. We were inseparable. My mom says I’m grieving, that animals grieve just like humans.
I had two tumors removed this year. One of them was on my neck, but thankfully, they were both benign. My mom says that means they weren’t cancerous. I also had some bad teeth pulled. Between that and that one tumor on my neck, my looks got messed up. I don’t look the same, and I lost weight, so my face has a sunk-in look, like a gigantic dimple.
My mom was having a rough time between Alex and me being ill. I knew she was scared and worried. But she nursed me back to health, and here I am. I am physically better but emotionally scarred. My world collapsed even more when we moved. I’m having a hard time adjusting to our new home. How much is a cat supposed to take? So that’s why I follow my mom everywhere. I don’t want her out of sight because otherwise, she might disappear and not come back, just like my brothers.
My mom says I’m having trouble adjusting because I have been through so many cat-astrophic things this year. She thinks this column will be good for me. She may be right. I kind of feel a bit better already, at least for now.
My column won’t always be so down, at least, I hope not. I’m a very friendly cat, and I have lots to say on a variety of topics. I hope people and their furry and non-furry families will write to me through my email address (see profile.) I will read them all and try my very best to answer as many as I can. But if I don’t get to answer all of them, just know that I have read your email and am thinking of you. Who knows, maybe you’ll have a question for me, and I may just pick one of them to write about or answer in a future column.
I’m kind of tired. This writing stuff makes me sleepy, so I am going to take a cat nap. I hope you enjoyed my column and hope to hear from you soon. I will leave you with this: The greatness of a person or a furry loved one is not measured by the amount of things they accumulate in this life. Their greatness is measured by the size of the hole in the heart that remains after they are gone. – Love Maverick
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Hi Maverick,
My name is Spooky. I’m 9 1/2 years old. My mom (also not a fur parent) found me after she heard me crying at the front door. I was only 5 months old. I was so glad she and dad decided to adopt me. They had lost their previous fur baby Tigger to cancer 4 months prior to my showing up at their doorstep. My mom thought I was very unique looking as I looked like a miniature panther (yes, I am a black cat). The first time I came into the house, I went directly to a ceramic panther mom and dad had in the family room. I stood right in front of it’s feet. I thought it was my fur mommy. Sadly, it wasn’t. but that’s ok, because I got the best non-fur parents a kitten could have ever asked for. They always showed me so much love.
Like you, I have had some sadness in my life. Three years ago, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. The first time he came home from the hospital, I would not go near him. He looked different and had things coming out of his body. I had to admit I was afraid of him. The next time he had to be in the hospital, I kept looking for him and followed mom all over the house when she would come home from visiting him. Once he got home, I was in his lap most of the time. I felt like I needed to help mom take care of him. We were best buddies and we loved each other very much. After my dad passed away, I would look for him, but mom said he wasn’t coming home but he was watching over us. So now, it’s just me and mom taking care of each other. So Maverick, I do know how you feel since you are missing your brothers. I miss my dad.
Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I liked your Cat Tails column when mom read it to me. I wanted to tell you that I also understood your feelings. We are both lucky to have such wonderful moms, even if they are not of the furry feline persuasion! I look forward to having mom read me more of your columns. Keep up the good work!
Spooky
Dear Spooky
Thank you for taking time out of your day to comment on my article. If I could give you a cat hug right now, I would. Thank you for sharing your grief journey with me. Until you go through grief yourself, it’s hard for others who haven’t had that experience to understand.
I can tell you loved your dad so very much. I hate that you had to go through that experience. My mom told me that you have to experience grief when a loved one dies – that you can’t run away from it. She says it’s a process, one step at a time. Eventually, you will get to where you can put all your memories of your loved one in a safe place next to your heart. And when you need to feel that warm fuzzy feeling of your loved one, you put your hand or your paw over your heart, and a warm tingling feeling will happen. It’s like they’re right there with you.
Your mom sounds like a wonderful mom. I am so glad you have her and can comfort each other. And the comfort you gave your dad is priceless. How can you measure something like that? Sometimes at night, when my mom is sleeping I will jump out of bed and run to the window and look way up high to all the shining stars. I like to think our loved ones are there shining down and watching over us. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling all over.
Spooky, since I can’t give you a physical cat hug, then when you feel you need one, just reach your paw up into the air, and I will know to do the same here. Somewhere in cyberspace, we will touch just like you have touched my heart with your letter.
Love Maverick