so long, sadie-kitty.
when i was growing up, my mom had a cat named miss kitty who we had to put to sleep when she was 24 because of kidney failure. a few weeks later, on october 30, 1990, my mom was looking at the rio rancho observer and saw a photo of a cat up for adoption. in the photo was a female calico cat, 12 weeks old who had been abandoned and picked up by rio rancho animal control. the cat bore a strong resemblance to miss kitty, and still sad about her loss, she went to animal control to adopt the cat.
when she brought her home, she was really scared of everyone and was really uncomfortable in our home. what struck us as the most strange, however, was her affinity for our golden retriever, bo. while she didn’t really like any of us, she loved the dog. when she ate, she’d take her foot and put it in her bowl and pull food or water out of it. my parents guessed that she must have been kept with dogs, fighting for food for most of her life.
after a while, she started to get used to living with us, and really enjoyed the company of my mom and i the most. she didn’t really get along with our other cats, figment and smokey. she preferred being outside where she could roll around in the sunshine and dirt. always a dirt and grass-roller, always chasing and catching birds and leaving them on our doorstep, catching and eating lizards, this was my kitty sadie.
one tradition we had on holidays involved making a little plate of food at thanksgiving or christmas for sadie. my mom would also make little plates of food for the mice in the woodpile on the side of our house. it seemed as though sadie knew what time of year it was and every time we’d go outside, she assumed she was getting her little plate of turkey and stuffing. when the holidays actually came, she would gobble up everything and stare up at us with her big green eyes in an attempt to guilt us into giving her more food.
we moved from our home on western hills to another house at the other end of the city when i was 12 or 13. sadie immediately took to watching all the different birds and also to running around in the abundant grass in our front yard. being much braver than she should have been, she would take on and beat up any neighborhood cats who dared enter her yard. (this is something she did, even at 20 years old) i remember once when she was intensely interested in a roadrunner that was hanging around and chased it up onto the patio cover in our back yard. the bird grew tired of the black cat following him around and chased her right off the patio cover. she fell and injured both of her back legs and had to be given anti-inflammatory medication for a few weeks til she recuperated.
this around when she and i became better friends. she’d always sort of tolerated my mom and i more than other people, but never really seemed to do any more than that. my parents were having marital issues and it seemed like sadie was suddenly much more interested in my companionship. in november of 1998, when my mom, sister and i moved back to our old house on western hills, it seemed like sadie sort of knew what was going on and did her best to make me feel better. instead of wanting to be outside all the time, she’d come inside when i was home or when i’d arrive home from school. she slept in my bed, she provided me with a bit of stability while the rest of my life was being turned upside down by divorce and other drama.
when i started high school, i found myself out of the house more often, but she would always be there waiting for me in the driveway when i’d arrive home. as she got older, we had to start keeping her outside more often because of constant scuffles with our other cats and because she was nearly always on edge. she’d still spend all her time outside sleeping in the sun, rolling around in the dirt, begging for more food (she was always hungry, never a meal too big for her) and enjoying her yard, her family and her life with my mom and i.
i moved out of my mom’s in 2007 and reluctantly had to leave sadie behind. she was too old to be moving about, too set in her ways, too fond of being outside for me to take her with me and lock her up inside our apartment. even still, every time i’d visit, she’d trot right out to my car and we’d start over where we left off, with hugs and a little chat. i think that’s what i’m likely to miss the most, going to visit my mom and having my friend come running out to greet me, ask (loudly) for more (always more…) food and attention and sit on the hood of my car.
now that she’s gone, i’m finding myself really wishing that i’d spent more time with her. it breaks my heart to remember how many times i drove by my mom’s, only to see my kitty streak across the front yard, thinking i was going to stop. it also breaks my heart that i’ve lost my oldest friend and companion.
twenty years old, feisty, fiery and happy.
so long sadie girl, i hope you knew how much we all loved you and how much we’re all going to miss you.
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