The Other Cat

“Please tell me Pixie was with her” As I sat down next to Mom’s only living sibling, my Aunt Bird asked me that. It was so important to her that the cat my mother loved was with her baby sister when she died. I was able to reassure her that Pixie was with her when Mom died and she stayed with her until Mike came home to find her. An animal’s love and loyalty towards their people is something that we humans can learn from.

We had a Memorial Mass for my mother yesterday. It was a simple Mass and the priest wore white. There were no funeral dirges, no gloomy passages, no processions or burial in a cemetery. None of the things Mother did not want. She was always having our priest at St. Paul’s and Father Martial, a Franciscan friend of over 50 years, say Masses for her family and for her. For Mom her faith was one of the most important things in her life. Yesterday with her family and friends we celebrated Mom’s love of God and her love of the Catholic Mass. To be honest I think Mom preferred the Mass when it was in Latin and the songs Gregorian chants but Mom was definitely old fashioned. I had specifically asked Mom if we could have Masses said for her and she said yes. Yesterday was the first of many Masses that we will have said over the years for Mom and we will continue to do Masses fro Dad also. This Mass was a chance for family and friends to celebrate her life, her faith, and to comfort each other.

I have spoken of Pixie but there is another cat in the house that Mom had a relationship with and his name is Merlin. Merlin is my cat. He was rescued from a pound at the age of 4 weeks and I have been his “Mommy” ever since. My Mom loved to talk to Merlin. At 17½ pounds and big enough that he can wrap his front paws around my waist we are speaking about a whole lot of cat to talk to. Merlin is 12 and getting a little on the creaky side. I think he probably has a touch of arthritis. His main joy in life is his naps. He probably sleeps a good twenty hours a day. Merlin would look at my Mom as she talked to him. She would tell him that they were two old senior citizens together. They both creaked up the stairs. They were both shown up by Pixie who loves to zip up and down stairs especially if someone is trying to make their way up or down. Pixie is a show off. Merlin would look at Mom and his expression seemed to say, “Yep. I’m with you on that.” He seemed to know when Mom was telling him what a handsome fellow he was. The computer Mom kept her finances on is in my bedroom. So she would come up and sit there and type and talk to Merlin. It would crack me up when she would tell me about the conversations she and Merlin had together. Even though he is a confirmed mama’s boy Merlin still loved my Mom. He knew from the start that Mom had the makings of a cat person in her. He taught her that she needed to keep his food dish and water dish full. He would “sing” for her. Merlin can be very vocal sometimes. He has a meow that sounds like he is saying “hell no.” Every time he did that Mom would laugh and laugh. One evening I had finished supper and I was standing there talking to Mom and Merlin had been patient long enough and he came downstairs and he stood on his hind legs and put his front paws on my rear end and pushed wanting me to get a move on and go upstairs with him. Mom thought that was the funniest thing in the world. She told her sister and all her friends about it. Merlin cracked her up and he just loved it when she talked to him and he knew she was telling him how handsome he was. He loved Mom.

Merlin realizes Mom is gone. He has been very subdued this week and he lets Pixie on the bed and doesn’t object when I give her affection. In death they have reached a detente they refused achieve in life. Merlin has reluctantly agreed to share his Mommy with Pixie. So Mom left behind two cats who loved her. They are helping each other through.

At the Mass yesterday family and friends talked about Mom. We talked about how much she loved to write letters. We talked about how she loved to read. We talked about her love of animals. I promised her sister that I would keep in touch with her. Mom called her sister at least twice a week. I am going to continue the calls because this is my last chance to get all the rest of the family history and get it written down. I have the memories of Mom’s conversations that I have been writing down but Aunt Bird at 94 has even more stories that I can document a time and way of life I know little about. I can’t take Mom’s place but I can still give her the weekly chats she loves so well and we both have a lot of love for each other.

Our Mayor was at the Mass. She worked with Mom at the hospital. We had nurses that came and coworkers of Mike and I. Our handyman and his son came. The chaplain from the hospital came. Chaplain Steve told me right after Mass that I had to do a beautiful art piece now for my Mom. He loves my art like she did and thinks this would be a good way for me to honor her. I have an idea of what I want to do. My niece and I were batting around ideas last night.

I tried to go to work today but with the extreme bronchitis I’ve come down with my Boss was having nothing to do with it. She told me to go home and be with my family. My coworker said she would give me the PTO time to be off for the next couple of days. So I will rest until Monday and then try again. In the meantime the picture of an old fashioned redheaded woman in Irish green holding a black cat is flashing through my mind. Mom would like a picture like that. I’ll put a black and gray tabby in there too. After all Mom loved both of her grandcats.