Jack: In Loving Memory

Jack died last night. We hadn't seen him since Sunday, which isn't unusual-- but it has been so cold the last few days that we were concerned. Emily set out blankets and food, but we just didn't see him. He finally came home yesterday afternoon, cold and sick. We brought him inside, put him on blanket and a heating pad and tried to love him back to health. The three girls were worried, but Cate was most concerned. She kept sneaking out to the laundry room and patting him on the head (which isn't good for a dying cat) and telling him to get better. He wasn't. At bedtime, Emily picked him up and held him for a few minutes while he died. We had a good cry and went to bed.

In the last few hours I've been trying to remember everything there is to remember about the little black cat. And-- with the aid of a heightened and finely-tuned selective memory-- I have. So, from now on, I'll only share the good parts version of Jack's story. (And in my memory, we were pretty good cat-owners too.)

I woke the Three Birds this morning to let them know what happened last night. The girls stumbled into our room, got cozy in the covers, and we told them. They cried hard-- especially Catherine. (Cate has always had an adversarial relationship with Jack; from her time as a bald toddler when he would stalk her, crawling with his belly low in the grass in order to pounce on top of her shiny head and scratch. Even when he got older, and stopped lunging and scratching, he was never soft with her... but she still loved him. Cate wasn't sad about Jack's death only because of a selective memory, she loved him because she is loving.)

They cried. We told them of our plan to have a funeral later in the day. They cried some more. We talked about Heaven. We hugged. We reminisced. We cried again.

Here are some quotes from the morning talk:

Dad: "Do you remember how Jack would attack his back legs?"

Mom: "Do you remember when Jack would catch birds? ...lizards? ...mice?"

Bethany: "Do you remember how Jack would jump up and grab a sock if I waved it at him?"

Gwen: "Do you remember how Jack would chase a string if I pulled it?"

Cate: "Do you remember how I would throw a stick to Jack... and he would just look at it?"