Sookie

Our sweet old fat cat died last night. She wasn't feeling well, so in the evening I sat with her, brushed her, and wiped her crusty nose. At bedtime she started having trouble breathing, got up to waddle under the bed, and collapsed, crying. I tried to help her, but she died as I ran to the car with her. I don't know if she couldn't breathe or if her heart gave out. We had a quiet ride to the emergency vet, and I made it all the way to the front doors with her before the crying caught up with me. Spent a long time saying goodbye, and went home alone at midnight with an empty towel. 

The kids come home today, I'm so sorry they missed her. But I'm glad they didn't see her go.

Sookie's story

14 years ago, I was giving birth to Leif on Maui around the same time Sookie was born on Oahu. Her mother was scared away by noisy construction workers mid-delivery, leaving two kittens behind. Those kittens were found by a teacher, who bottle-fed them for several weeks. When her dog killed one of the kittens, she was very upset, and brought the surviving kitten to her co-worker, my mother. My mother took the kitten to Maui to visit her new grandson, where I named her Sookie because I was reading Charlaine Harris books at the time, and she stayed with us. Sookie was a cuddly kitten who tried to nurse everything, and she'd make horrible slobbery noises in your ear, trying to get hold of your earlobes while you slept. Once I woke up feeling alarmed that something was wrong with my baby, and found her laying across his face, trying to push him off the boob while he flailed his little fists (she was DENIED). 

Leif and Sookie at 2 months

4 months, going for my mom's eyes

 

As she got older and rounder, she could sense when someone sat down on the floor in another room, and she'd come galloping out like a fat pony to climb on their lap. She was sweet and affectionate, and set the standard for how large our Thanksgiving turkeys needed to be, based on the "turkey shouldn't weigh less than the cat" scale of measurement. She was glorious. 

I will miss you so much, Sookie. 

Thwarting my vacuuming efforts last week