MJ

Do I really take time to write an eulogy about my cat? Do any of you want to read 5 paragraphs sopping about how I rescued her from a group of boys who put her in a bag and forced her to inhale marijuana smoke? I kept her name regardless because with her sweet little face and petite paws she looked like a cute Mary Jane. You might get a kick out of the fact that I put her on a diet making her run up and down the stairs in our condo for 20 measly pieces of food? It was a vet approved diet and she was mighty happy and playful after her belly no long drug the ground. Santa always brought her a can of wet food for her stocking to make up for it. My family members could all tell you a tale or two about the times they hosted MJ while Rohit and I globetrotted. Rohit still claims he wants to write a song or a book or perhaps just a title called "A Man and his Cat" about how the 2 of them bought a Subaru and camped their way back east from Arizona, praying they were not going to be coyote feed. Maybe MJ is the only cat to have seen the sunset over the Grand Canyon?

Or we could tell you the other side. How Janie refused to be picked up by anyone. How Shalini had to feed her for 3 months before she would even let her pass on the stairs without hissing. She never, ever bit but she loved to make some noise. How I had to stuff the closet full of litter boxes like a Tetris game because MJ had bad aim and hung her bum outside of the box. How every time we went out of town I had to make a spreadsheet to figure out which neighbor I had been asked the least to care for her.

I miss Mary Jane. She was my cat. I loved her and I was willing to love her good stuff and bad. The girls were tired of her. They want a pet they can love on and that will love them back. I understand that and I want that for them as well. MJ was 17 years old. Her time was coming and I am ok with that. When I said good bye to her back in December I partially knew it might be the BIG good bye and I partially hoped for that even though I feel awful about that now. It was one thing to receive an email telling me my cat is dying but it was entirely a different emotional realm to make a decision to say Yes, put her to sleep and not be able to take her myself. I am so sorry for that.