Partings

March 3rd 2017

By John W. Vander Velden

 

Oliver was just a cat…our cat.  He had been our cat for almost eleven years.  As cats go, Oliver was a good cat.

Oliver had long hair…orange fur.  He left it all over, most of the year.  Ask Jackie about how much he shed.  I used to say we could knit a cat from the fur we had to clean up.  Not that shedding was the only way he left hair in our domicile, but I won’t get in to that.  We were told that orange cats have tooth problems…Oliver did.  But it wasn’t the fur…tons of fur…it wasn’t the teeth.  In the end, it was his kidneys.

We had known for years that he had kidney problems.  Special food, which he hated, had done wonders.  But even wonders have their limits and eleven years is old for a cat.  I’m sure some of you have had cats much longer, but it’s old all the same. 

So we come once more to parting.  Anyone that has walked this earth as long as I, has had to face many partings.  Sometimes it is the parting of friends and neighbors due to relocation.  Sometimes it is the parting due to changes of employment.  Sometimes it is the purposeful separation caused by the falling out of favor.  Yes, we have all had to deal with partings and for the most part, it is painful.  Another word comes to mind but I refuse to use it even if it pounds at the inside of my skull yearning to escape.  I will hold that word prisoner for now.

Some might say I’m too soft or sensitive for my own good to allow the death of a cat to remind me of other painful separations.  But Oliver was a good cat, within the limits of what a cat can be.  He had been part of our household for years.  He will be missed.  And that’s the point, isn’t it.  We miss those things we lose…providing we had them in the first place…and providing they mattered.

So as I stood beside the small plot made for Oliver, I remember other good pets, Fluffy, King, Ike, and all the rest.  How they, in their time, had enriched my life, by just being the dogs or cats they were.  But my mind went to other partings…certainly more painful separations.  Like I said I have had to face many.  The ache from those times returned.  Not nearly as severe as when I endured those separations years ago.  And I am reminded how much my world was changed by those partings…then…It changed a little today.

For there are those wounds that never completely heal.  Maybe that’s a good thing.  Maybe it reminds us that we are human…that we need connections….Connections are vital to who we are…. They help to make us who we have become.  Connections are made stronger by empathy…caring about others...trying to understand others…doing our best to see their situation.  Having empathy is a good thing, but sometimes it hurts like….well, there’s that word again.

Partings remind us how bound we are to things…but much more, how we are bound to people.

I dread the thought of partings.  Yet I know that parting is part of living…or life.  Some say parting makes room for new relationships.  I figured I had room enough to add those other to the collection I already had.  But today…well today…I said good bye to an orange fluffy friend…and the parting…well…. 

 

 

 

 

(598 Words)                  3-3-2017

It's Not Easy Bein' a Cat

 It’s Not Easy Bein’ a Cat

By John W. Vander Velden

 

I’m here to tell you it isn’t easy being a cat.  First off cats don’t get any respect.  Just look at me.  Strong and lean.  I mean I can jump nearly ten time my height for cryin’ out loud.  I move without a sound and can see in total darkness.  Well maybe not total darkness, but close.  My razor sharp teeth and retractable claws make me the perfect predator.  And I’m a Tom through and though.  Just ask the ladies next door.  But what do people call me?  Fluffy.  Fluffy…you have got to be kidding.  Me Fluffy…  Well I do have thick fur but have you ever heard a stud Rocwelier called Fluffy?  I didn’t think so.  He’s not a cat.  Then there is the litter box…a litter box…like only one and they keep it in the cellar.  A guy nearly has to pack a lunch when nature calls.  These people that take up space in my house, you know the tall one and the not quite so tall one...they go by…well some names or other.  It really isn’t important.  But these people have two bathrooms.  Like they can’t share or something.  And they keep their potties in real handy places.  It’s not like they have to go down the stairs and around the corner…noooo.  And you think it was a felony if I hack up a little bit of hair a couple times a day.  Like I said the fur is long and I’ve got to keep up an image for the girls.  I don’t shine by accident. No, it takes work and time too.  It also seems I can’t go anywhere.  What’s the big deal of wandering around on the kitchen counter, or checking out what the tall one has on his plate?  But what really pulls my tail is that at night they don’t even let me sleep on the not so tall one’s face.  How can a cat find a comfortable place to bed down…sheesh.  I can’t tell you how often I have been chucked to the floor. 

What does it take to please these people?  Just last summer I brought a ground squirrel into the house.  You would have thought by the screaming I had killed it or something.  All that screeching noise distracted me and my lunch got away.  I told the not so tall one that I’d get it sooner or later, but whatever she said…not that I bothered listening…it didn’t sound like she believed me. 

Then there’s the stuff they feed me. Some plus shaped hard pieces of who knows what.  Oh it’s not too bad for the first twenty-two minutes and forty seconds, but after that it goes stale.  Strange they think I’ll nibble at it all day.  Why can’t my people cook me up some fresh salmon now and then?  A couple times a week shouldn’t be any problem.  But you know how hard it is to get good help… and that tall one’s no help at all.

Like I said it is not easy being a cat, and all this talking has worn me out.  I’ll just lie down a while in that sunny spot at the top of the stairs, so don’t bother me….

 

(543 Words)  12-9-2016

 

 

Solitary Creature

Solitary Creature

By John W. Vander Velden

Moving fluid like…silent …sleek…beautiful.  Leaping effortless always upward to the highest points…visual advantage.  There content, soon comfortable, it remains.  To the unfamiliar, the motionless mass seems inconsequential, as it lies high upon the curio.   Asleep it seems, yet fully aware, watchful through lid’s slits with cunning eyes that can pierce the night and ears no sound escapes.  Hours pass scarcely it moves.  Though at times easily distracted, now showing patience Job would envy.  What can be said about this amazing creature of tooth and claw?  That it moves as comfortably in darkness’ cloak as day’s brightness?  Throughout its life, humoring those claiming the ownership never surrendered.  Perfectly willing to share its home with those that serve…providing demands met, yet of its own kind often less tolerant.   Happy to allow the human touch…when in the mood.  When pleased, emitting a rumble from deep within.   Other times, when attention demanded, a familiar call given…then its actions inspire immediate response.  So loved yet never truly devoted.  Emotionally warm one moment…cool the next.  Few creatures are so common, yet have nothing common about them.  None can fathom what those slit eyes see or hidden heart considers.   Such a solitary creature…the cat!

(203 Words)