Goodbye, dear friend.

We (my family) have had to say goodbye to a dear friend, no, he was more like a family member.  Pepsi, a beautful Siamese cat that has lived for fouteen years in the care of my mother and siblings is gone.  We got Pepsi when I was in the 6th grade.  I remember sitting in my classroom and bragging to all of my peers about what a beautiful and fun kitten my mom had brough home to us. 

Pepsi had a very unique personality.  He was comical sometimes and serious others.  Growing up, I was know as his "squeak toy" because he would hide and unexpectedly jump out at me.  He would climb my leg, or bite my toe or do anything that would get a little squeal out of me.  It was all playful and funny after the shock of the "attack" was gone.

While Pepsi lived with my mom, I still saw him almost everyday.  Mom babysits Ethan while I work and I have to say that Ethan and he had quite the friendship.  Ethan's "chore" everyday was to let Pepsi out of "his" room.  Ethan would hardly eat breakfast until he let Pepsi out.  I don't know how he is going to handle going to that room and not seeing him there.  I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Pepsi always knew when I felt bad.  He would just cuddle up in my lap and stay for as long as I needed him.  Especially through my pregnancies.  He really wanted to lay directly on my belly.  Even before I knew I was pregnant, he would become more affectionate to me.  I think he may have even known when we lost Shyla.  On the Friday before we knew what had happened, I came to my Mom's after work to pick up Ethan and Pepsi walked up to me as usual.  He hopped up on the couch beside me and sniffed me a little.  I was anticipating him trying to nudge his way onto my lap, but he didn't.  Suddenly, he laid back his ears, hissed and smacked at me a couple times before running away.  He had never done that before to me and had not since.  Do you think he sensed something was wrong?

Pepsi had been sick for a couple weeks.  He had just stopped eating.  Mom had taken him to the vet a few times and at first they were hopeful some meds would help him.  But then they believe his kidneys started failing.  Pepsi was a big cat, but since he started getting sick, he lost a lot of weight.  He stopped cleaning his fur and we could tell he was getting weaker.

Ben had to work late lastnight, so Ethan and I spent some time at Mom's house.  I tried to get on the laptop to check my email, facebook and a few things, but Pepsi came over to where I was sitting and tried to jump up in my lap.  I knew he was having a hard time, so I put the laptop away and helped him up.  He curled up there and purred off and on for two hours.  Every once in a while, he was stretch his paw out, as if to hug me, and look up to my face.  I knew he would not be with us much longer.

It will be so sad not having him around.  The presence of a pet is so comforting to a sad soul and the loss of a such a pet is so hard.  I know some people may be thinking, "he was just a cat", but to me he was a dear friend.

These are pictures from Christmas 2008