RIP Claudia 1995-2007
Growing up on a farm, you learn pretty early on not to get too attached to the animals. Even pets weren’t treated like pets in the traditional sense. Dogs helped herd the livestock, cats lived in the barn and caught mice. Where I grew up, most people’s pets didn’t even come in the house. So growing up, even though I had several pets, I never got THAT attached to them. That is until Claudia came along. I got Claudia right after high school, my first year in college. There was this woman in a class I was in whose cat had just had kittens and they were trying to get rid of them. She said that whatever kittens they couldn’t get rid of…they were going to feed to their snake. Seriously. So this is why Claudia would forever be known by my dad as “Snake Bait.” So I went over to their house and picked the kitten that was the most adventurous. She was climbing out of the box and trying to explore, where her brothers and sisters were content to snuggle in the box. Claudia was also the only kitten that wasn’t grey…she was black and white, which is where my joke of her not mixing right came from. So when she was old enough, my classmate dropped her off at my house. And that’s when it all began, my love for a cat. She was very tiny. I think she may have been too small to be away from her mother. She would sleep on my bed, on my pillow, curled up in my hair. It was an odd thing to wake up to! Then when she had deemed it was time for me to wakeup, she would lick my ear. As she got bigger, she would sleep on my shoulder or curl up in my back. But those were the only times she was really a cuddler. She had a mind of her own and didn’t suffer any fools. Everyone seemed to love her; she had such a unique personality. Even my mom, who was decidedly NOT a cat person, was enamored with her. Claudia used to lie on her back and sleep sprawled out like that on the floor and my mom thought it was so funny. My mom told me that she had watched a nature show about lions, and apparently that’s how they lay after they eat. She thought it was hilarious that Claudia thought she was a lion, especially since she never got that big, 6lbs tops. And if you get the name reference, you’ll see why that’s particularly funny. Claudia has been with me through everything. Every heartbreak and loss and joy. When my ex-husband and I were first engaged, we almost broke up over her. He wanted me to get rid of her and I told him, “I’ve had this cat long before you, and I’ll have her long after.” I didn’t know at the time how prophetic that would turn out to be. When my mom died, Claudia was the one I cried to. When my brother died it was memories and pictures of his cat, Clyde, with Claudia that made me smile again. She was there when I brought my daughter home for the first time, when my marriage ended, during the lonely nights, when I couldn’t talk to anyone, she understood.
Claudia died last night after about a month and a half of being ill. I’ve never been that kind of person that treated their pets like children, and I probably never will be. But Claudia was more than a pet to me. She was my best friend. And I will never forget her.
I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through. ~Jules Verne
What greater gift than the love of a cat? ~Charles Dickens
I love cats because I love my home and after a while they become its visible soul. ~Jean Cocteau
Cats were put into the world to disprove the dogma that all things were created to serve man. ~Paul Gray