Oscar

[neoleviathanx]

I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly how long I've had Oscar, or what his exact age is. But I do remember picking him out, the little white one with the gray smudge on his head that made him look like had just come from church on Ash Wednesday. He was from a farm, and I chose him because he walked around more than the other kittens. That was roughly 18 years ago, any idea how many that is in cat years? Over time that smudge faded, we started calling him a moon face. He got fat, so fat in fact that he won the prize for largest cat in Linwood at the Fair. He loved to be brushed in the mornings when my mom was getting ready for work, and he'd be waiting at the door for us when we got home. He was the only cat that I knew of that would come when you called for him, but mostly it was just when I called for him. He slept in my bed nearly every single night and would pee on anything that smelled like me that I left on the floor. I guess that was his way of letting everyone know that I was his. At some point he had been bitten on his right ear, by either the dog or the other cat, and it had cauliflowered, replacing that smudge as his distinguishing mark.

He died tonight. It isn't as if we didn't see it coming, he was walking around funny and not doing much of anything but sleeping by the heater. That doesn't make it any easier to say good-bye to somebody you've known almost your entire life, even if that somebody happens to be a cat.

I know it sounds silly, especially with everything I've had to deal with, but this still hurts like hell. Maybe some of it is that I have a lot of loss to deal with in the near future, and maybe some of it is what I've already lost. Either way, it hurts.

Cat or not, I lost a friend tonight.