My Shadow is gone.
Some of you will remember that I’ve cat-sat or house-sat … and sometimes I have admitted that I’ve been staying in a cat house. 🙂 Yikes.
The truth is that I have stayed in my friends’ home a number of times while they were traveling. I take care of the home and watch the cat. Well “the cat” and I became really good friends. His name is Shadow. He’s not up close and warm and friendly with most people, but he has been with me. Shadow and I worked it out early on where mostly I do what he wants. It’s his house after all!
We simply talked, we sat and talked, and he taught me to listen better than I had been listening. I have so many wonderful stories to tell about our friendship, Shadow and me. Shadow never spent time in the guest room when guests were there. But I woke up one morning in the guest room to find him sitting on the pillow next to me, INCHES from my face, staring into my eyes. “I’d like my breakfast now, I’d like to go out now, are you NEVER going to get up?” And yet I put my hand out from under the covers, and reached to his face, and he rubbed and kissed my hand.
So many other stories.
But Shadow is gone now. My human friend Gary texted me today to say that Shadow was likely taken by a local, wild coyote. Maybe so, but I will choose to remember that Shadow was outside when that happened, on HIS TURF, and that he gave that coyote hell.
I’ll miss you, my friend.