Shouldn't…but Do

This morning McFeeney the Elder passed on.  As almost any cat owner will tell you, the description domestic shorthair does not do the job.

The most intelligent feline I ever met, McFeeney also had opposable thumbs.  Had he not been neutered, McFeeney might well have fathered the line of cats able to open doors and text take-out orders.

Late coming to our household, McFeeney spent his formative years living in a garage, fed by a kind-hearted family and spending days and nights carousing the Big World.  Given my fondness for songbirds and long-lived cats, McFeeney dwelled indoor after I brought him home.  Forever after, his preferred spots were windows and windowsills, always looking outward.  The holiday season was a special favorite as he considered each Christmas tree a long-lost bush.

As good friends, pets accompany their people through hard times and good.  McFeeney was no different.  For my oldest child, losing McFeeney he said, was losing the only thing that had remained unchanged from the years prior to the divorce  and through his struggles in the years that followed.  My youngest recalled a fine quote, don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened.

And that is so.  Under the sun and moon, all living things someday pass. We are lucky to partake while we are here. Laid to rest in our yard, McFeeney is again part of the Big World.  Fare thee well.