Ash, was my grey-coated, golden-eyed darling.  One of my husband’s bosses gave her to us four years ago.  The first night with me (my husband was out of town) she walked around the house sniffing and became familiar with everything she could.  She found her food and water bowls and litter box.  We put the litter box upstairs for her because our downstairs bathroom was too small to contain it and be comfortable.

I lay on the couch that night watching television and I let her roam as much as she wanted.  I fell asleep there and the next morning I had this darling pet laying against me curled up in my arms.  That is the day my genuine love for animals started.

As a child, living in the county, which in those days was like living in the country, we had plenty of pets.  We had a goat, a chicken coop that gave us fresh eggs, hunting dogs and many cats along the way.  I was always used to animals but being as young as I was they didn’t interfere with my heart the way they do now.

My husband loved her as much as I did and there was some training that we did have (mostly my husband) to administer because she could be feisty when she wanted.  Isn’t that what is said of all cats; that they act the way they want to and you have to go along with the game plan.  When my husband would pet her, being temperamental,  she would bite down on his finger meaning “you’re playing too much”.  This led my husband to discipline her.  Not harshly though.  One night I opened the bedroom door and there was my husband hitting her on the nose with a soda straw; not to hurt but to scare her.  When she saw the sweet signs of freedom she galloped out of the room and didn’t look back.

After six months with us she was just like a part of the family.  Every night when we went to bed she would sleep between us, a sweeter family you couldn’t have asked for.  My husband, I have to admit, gave her more affection because when sitting in my lap she never knew when I had to get up and do some sort of chore.  Some nights she would get very territorial and jump back in my lap until she saw I had other things on my mind.

My husband, though, was her true friend.  We live in one of those refurbished apartments from the 30’s that is made on the dorm style floor plan.  You know, where you enter the outside door and then go to your apartment.  Well, she became so in tune with his comings and goings that when she heard the outside door close she would always know when it was my husband.  She would stand by our front door even before he put the keys in the lock.   He had this routine of surfing the Internet when he came in and she would stand beside him wanting her back to be rubbed.  Of course, he did it and when she had enough she went along her way.

Pretty soon we noticed that Ash had a rising under her stomach.  A visit to the veterinarian proved dismal.  Our baby girl had contracted cancer; the aggressive kind.  Needless to say we had the tumor removed and she outlived her sentence.  She lived a year after that surgery and then the tumor came back in other places on her body.  We didn’t want to see her operated on again, especially when it would come back and because we didn’t want to see her put through that pain again.

We had been told that when an animal is dying they sometimes want solitude and to be left alone which we experienced with her.  She stopped sleeping on the bed with us and would sleep in her favorite chair or in the closet.  We knew, however, when she was giving up.  For two days she slept between us in bed with her head on the pillow.  She was telling us goodbye.

Soon she was having difficulty walking and that is when my husband decided to have her put to sleep.  She was unable to get up and go to the litter box and it hurt us both badly to see her so incapacitated.  My husband and I both felt like we were loosing a child, especially me because I never had children and she gave me that maternal feeling as best as any other animal could.

We often think of Ash now and say we miss our baby girl.  One good thing that came out of it for me is the genuine love and adoration I have for all animals now.  I am thinking of making that my charity; the humane treatment and care of animals.  Whether local or nationally, there is a big need to help the cause of a defenseless, loving animal and is the greatest gift someone can give.  I found unconditional love through my pet and I shall never forget her.  Here’s hoping I see you in heaven Ash.  You were my friend.