The Passing of a Friend
I have had a really bad weekend. My beloved gray tabby Nyoka took a turn for the worse this week. Fluid was draining into her abdomen and it turned out to be caused by a tumor. With her age and her other medical problems, we decided it was best to have her put to sleep Saturday. She literally died in my arms. I’m having a tough time coping right now, I feel exhausted and restless at the same time. Spent the rest of the day sipping whiskey and watching episode after episode of the old Gil Gerard Buck Rogers show.
She’d been with me for most of my adult life. She found us during our first year of marriage, a feisty and curious four month old kitten all eyes, ears, and tail. Erika wanted to call her Smokey or Dusty due to her gray tiger stripe markings. But early on she jumped on my head from on top of our entertainment center and it reminded me of the way Dave Sharpe looked doubling Kay Aldridge in Perils of Nyoka when she would dive down from a boulder onto one of Cassib’s warriors. From that day on she was my jungle queen.
We had a lot of good years together, sitting on the couch watching serials, though I know she was more interested in trying to steal popcorn out of my bowl than what was happening on the TV screen. I still remember our first Christmas when she dismantled our Christmas tree and spread it all over the living room. It was hard to get mad at her, she looked so proud sitting in the middle of it. She could charm anyone, I remember going on vacation and having to board her for a week. When I went to pick her back up, I found her sitting on the owner’s desk. She had charmed the owner of the kennel into let her out of her cage and run free in the office for the entire week. She would greet all visitors to our house, and sit by them to make them feel welcome, we always called her our ambassador.
Last night I had trouble sleeping, it was the first time in sixteen years she wasn’t laying on my chest in our bed, going through our usual routine of a specific number of ear scratches and chin rubs, then a quick sniff of the air coming out of the release valve on my bi-pap mask before she settled into her spot next to my knees and went to sleep. It’s actually difficult to type right now because she’s nt on my desk, draped over my left arm and half the keyboard, with her head right on top of my hand enjoying a chin massage from my knuckles as I type. She was my closest friend and I will miss her terribly.
I’m sorry. I’ve lost some really good furry friends over the years and know how you feel. Hang in there.