My sister called me yesterday to tell me of the passing of Xanadu, my Dad's cat. Well, actually, my cat who my Dad and brothers have taken care of for over a decade. Confused? Let me start at the beginning.
I was not, and am still not, a cat person. But in my initial days living in Mansfield, I was a bit lonely. And my girlfriend at the time, Anne, was a huge cat person, and thought it would be great if I had one too, to keep me company when Anne was not around. Never having had any pet, this sounded good to me. So on March 20, 1995, we drove to the Mansfield SPCA and picked out an "applesauce" cat.
The road was bumpy for Xanadu and I. For a cat, she was very needy, and took to waking me up at all hours and meowing at everything. It was almost as if she wished she were a dog. This was not good for me, and our pet-owner relationship soon was icy. But we worked through it (slightly). A couple of years later, when I moved into a different apartment that did not allow pets, I turned to my Dad to take Xanadu in. My brothers were only 4 and 3 at the time, so Xanadu would have kids to play with. It was a perfect match. And that's where she spent the next 12 + years of her life.
Xanadu may not have the smartest cat, and may have even thought she was a dog, but she lived a long life, and brought much joy to my family. And what more could you ask for?
2 comments:
I didn't really know Xanadu since she hid every time we visited your father but your dad and brothers seemed to really enjoy her, so for I cat, I guess she was ok ;)
sorry for your loss bill, i'm not much of a cat person, but I know losing a pet isn't a great feeling.
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