My Nutsy

Holey schmoley, it's already August!! I had very good intentions about posting regularly this summer, but they disappeared in the wind. I have a lot of knitting to post and talk about, but first please indulge me a moment while I go all crazy cat-lady on you.

We just got back from a nice vacation in northern Vermont. Unfortunately, the morning we were coming back I got a call from the vet that our beloved cat Nuts had died that morning.

Listen, I was a dog person all my life. The cats I knew growing up were aloof and bitey. I never understood why people liked cats at all. Then I got married and my husband (a devout cat person) convinced me to adopt two kittens from the SPCA. My son (3 yrs old at the time) named them Funny and Silly. And they were awesome. Sweet, affectionate, cuddly - I got it! I became a cat person.

Then a stray I named Smokey adopted us and had a litter of kittens which she deposited under the wisteria tree in our backyard. We caught and placed all but two, which we adopted. Nuts and Caroline. Caroline is very independent and funny, but Nuts..... Ah my Nutsy....

Nuts was 100% pure love and contentment. He would walk into a room and start purring. He loved the other cats (and they tolerated him). He loved the three of us. He loved visitors. He loved shrimp. He loved a squishy pillow. He loved to get a "tour", where I would pick him up and point out various objects around the house, which he would reach out and touch gently.

He had very severe asthma, which meant he took steroids daily and had to take puffs from an inhaler, believe it or not. He tolerated all this with patience and the good nature that was inherent in him. And finally, though he was only 4, his body gave out, and he died. And we weren't there, which I'm struggling with. We always boarded him at the vet's, so that he could get his medicine, and I know they took good care of him.

But I wish we had been with him. I wish I could have given his big orange lovey body one last hug. My Nutsy......