|
Dear Maggie
and Coco,
My goodness,
how I love you girls! Now, after asking
so many people to write letters to their
beloved pets, it’s time for me
to write mine. And I find it’s
not so easy.
You are
both so different and each of you so
special in your own way. You are my
best friends. I can tell you anything
and everything. I don’t have to
hold back anything for fear that what
I say will stress you out or make you
worry. I just tell it like it is and
you listen. (Okay, sometimes you don’t
listen, you just walk away, but most
of the time you listen.)
You are
such sweet girls. You are both so lovable
and so loving. You keep me company wherever
I am in the house, like shadows, and
sit close to me whenever I’m relaxing.
We get plenty of quality time together.
I value your company and your love.
I love
it, Coco, when you sit on my lap. It
may have taken you five years to get
there, but it was well worth the wait.
Now you snuggle up whenever the mood
strikes you and I so enjoy it. You are
so content to just be there and be loved.
Me too. (I know that I don’t sit
still for very long and you’d
really like me to because once you get
settled, you like to stay settled.)
My other favorite thing is that whenever
I sit at the counter, you wait for me
to pull out the other chair so you can
sit next to me and keep me company.
It doesn’t matter to you if I’m
eating, reading, talking on the phone,
whatever. You want to be there beside
me and I want you to be there. (I know
sometimes we have to let Lindsay sit
there instead of you. He has to eat
too you know!) When you’re sitting
there next to me and I neglect you for
more than a few minutes, you reach out
with your paw and put it on my leg to
remind me of your presence.
And Mags,
how sweet you are! Even though you don’t
really love anyone but me (although
I think perhaps now you’ve come
to love Jeannie too), you really are
the sweetest cat. (Well, you and Coco
are the sweetest cats, both of you).
Although you haven’t quite made
it to my lap yet (after all we’ve
only lived together for 14 years), you’re
coming closer all the time. You’ve
always slept right up next to me any
time I take a nap, and when I’m
sitting on the couch with my feet up,
you now push right up close to my leg
and settle in, half on my leg and half
off. So who knows, maybe my lap will
be next. Of course then there are the
times when I lay down on the bed with
you when you’re all stretched
out and we get nose to nose and I pet
you and give you a massage. How you
love that—you look straight and
deep into my eyes. The connection is
incredible. I used to think that no
one else could possible share that kind
of deep and soulful connection to their
pets. But now, having read the other
letters in this book, I know that many,
many others are as privileged as I am.
And aren’t we the very lucky ones
…
You both
bring such joy into my life. You really
do. And it’s thanks to Jean and
Allen that I decided to invite you two
to live with me. They were my cat-lover
role models. Over the years I saw, time
and time again, how much joy their cats
gave them and how much they were loved
in return. I finally thought to myself,
why not? And so I did. At that time,
I was only sure about two things: I
didn’t want black cats and I didn’t
want long-haired cats. Until I saw you
both, my sweet, black, long-haired angels.
That was fourteen years ago and I’ve
never looked back. I love you girls
to pieces.
Despite
your advancing age, you both seem fit
as fiddles. Maybe you can’t jump
as high as you used to or as easily,
but you still run up and down the stairs,
and jump on and off the beds and couches
with apparent ease. I also am heartened
by the fact that indoor cats often live
to 20 or even more, so we still have
plenty of time together and for that
I’m very thankful.
So, my
two black beauties, Maggie Mae, Coconut,
know that I love you more than I ever
knew I could or would and that you have
brought me happiness every day of my
life for these past fourteen years …
every single day.
I can hardly
remember what life was like before you,
and I certainly don’t think about
what life will be like, well, you know
… You’re my sweeties and
you will be forever.
I’ve
read a lot of very sad letters since
I began compiling letters for this book
and they frighten me. And yet some of
them are also the most inspirational;
and those are the letters I’ll
look to for comfort and hope, far into
the future, when my heart breaks, and
then breaks again.
Love,
Patti
Patti
C., Fort Ann, NY
|
