My Growth!

I had to say good bye to my beloved kitty, Sydney. Syd-Syd as I called her, loved to be held. Her favorite spot was on my shoulder, as if I were burping a baby, she would sleep there for hours if I would allow. I would walk around with her there doing my work, never once was she disturbed. Before I married, she'd join me in praises to the Lord. As I sang along with my favorite tapes, she would dance around as if she were chasing angles in the room. Always jumping, looking upward and having what seemed to be a smile on her face. This continued after I married too. My husband noticed her favorite place on my shoulder and called her ‘my growth’. He thought she was a special little cat. She was a great traveler! She loved Nacho Chips or cheese, so when we traveled, my husband loved feeding them to her because they gave her the smelliest gas in the world! When we were in the car together with her, and then got blasted with a ‘pooter’ ... I would turn every shade of green imaginable, and he'd laugh! Because of course .... 'my growth' was on my shoulder, so I got the full impact! She was the pet that was with me the longest .... 20+ years! She used to sit in my lap and we would have a ‘meowing’ conversation, this could go on forever! She would share .... (or should I say steal) bites of my peanut butter sandwiches, sneak a lick or two of my chocolate ice cream or Instant Breakfast, when my head was turned. She outlived several of our dogs, and in the year without a dog, she became one. So when we again had dogs, my husband’s favorite, she continued sitting at our feet begging with our dogs. Then there came a time to return to my shoulder. The last few years she spent in front of the heater or curled in bed under the covers at my side. She sometimes would sleep on a pillow next to mine, and occasionally stretch herself across my head, I’d wake to a paw in my eye or ear. If I made a move she disapproved of, she let me know in no uncertain terms. Yeah, I’d say she was my growth! I guess she was so much a part of me, that she had become ... ‘my growth’. I know that now I feel a huge void in my life and household, because of that frail 4 lb kitty, when we had her put to sleep. That small cat made a HUGE gaping hole in my heart now that she is gone. I loved her so. I miss 'my growth'!