etaindesigns

I was supposed to read the obituary I published for mom in Seven Days. Well it’s on the back cover of your bulletin. I am assuming most of you can read this, so I am not going to. I am going to tell you a story. It ties into the obituary.

This story may seem trivial, but those of you who know my cats may understand why it’s not and how it represents the better aspects of mom’s nature.

I adopted a street kitty while living in Japan in 2008. Mom met Aya, my cat, briefly while visiting Okinawa in 2009. When I knew for sure that I was leaving Japan in 2011, I had to make a separate trip to leave Aya here in Vermont as the airlines don’t fly pets off the island during the heat of the summer, roughly May thru September. My contract was up at the end of July. So I tearfully left Aya here the first week of April 2011 and returned to finish out the last 3 months of my teaching contract.

Yes, if you have any conception of the cost of round-trip airfare to Japan, she is now officially a $3000 kitty.

Our family had another cat named Midori at that time, Mom was forced to do most of the kitty to kitty introductions, by keeping Aya in a spare bedroom while the 2 cats got to know each other through mostly closed doors. The cats were well on their way to being properly “introduced” by the time I returned in August… Jackson Galaxy would have been proud.

I went back to Okinawa and bided my time by fostering yet another kitty for the Okinawa animal recue group. I would speak with mom via skype once a week. I always asked how Aya was doing.

“I know you told me not to let her out, but she really wants to go out,” she told me after about 2 months.

I was a little disappointed. Aya had been an indoor kitty in Japan and I did not want her going out at least until I was there and she was used to her new home. In an ideal world I would probably never have an outdoor cat where they get preyed upon by foxes or hit by cars as so many cats have met their end on the blind drop off just beyond my family’s house on Lee River rd.

Don’t know if it was in fact the same conversation or one later where she finally told me, “Your little one really wants out so,… I’ve been taking her for walks. She seems to like it,”

Sure enough, in the afternoons or late morning. Mom and Aya would venture forth for a leisurely stroll around the yard, or the back field. Eventually, I returned from Japan and while I was looking for a job stateside. I joined in and we’d take turns walking the kitty around the property for an hour or two everyday.

If you’ve never walked a cat the first thing you should know is that Aya won’t even wear a collar. A lease and a harness were out of the question. I’d tried when she was a kitten.

Walking a cat consists of at best a leisurely stroll and lots of waiting while Aya investigates everything Discovering all the locations were little critters might be hiding. There had been a big windstorm in Vermont while I was in Japan and she would figure out which of the downed trees behind my parents’ house were good for climbing. In the winter she might spend a good deal of time sitting on your shoes to keep her paws warm. There was also lots of cajoling when was time to come inside, but there’s that one little crack in the barn foundation that still hasn’t been sniffed for mice properly.

Mom would often weed her gardens or collect things from the field for flower arrangements at the church while Aya did her thing.

Eventually as Aya became more comfortable with her new home and being outside the walks got longer… we started to venture into the forest behind our property or the edges of our neighbors’ yards.

One of the neighbors two doors down was an elderly lady who was by then well into her 80s and housebound due to a stroke. Mrs. Cooley frequently saw us walking Aya on the edge of her property. After some time she convinced her daughter, who took care of her, to get them a new kitten. Cricket still lives with Cynthia down the street even though Mrs. Cooley has since passed on, but Aya doesn’t like her very much.

By now you might be wondering why I am spending a lot of time talking about my cat when this is my Mom’s service. I’m single. I have no human children. People who know me know I like to talk about my cat. I care about my cat.

Mom also cared about the cat. Partly because she’s just a nice person and well it’s a cat, but also because she cared about me and knew I cared about the cat, and she cared about me, so naturally she cared about the cat. In this instance she succeeded in finding a creative solution to the problem of a kitty who was stressed out being stuck inside a house and me not wanting her to get hurt or lost by going outside. And I think it’s a good representation of how she tackled problems in her life.

I know for sure the impact of what she started spread at least 2 doors down the street where somebody else now has a cat. Maybe as far as the church here where she brought all those flowers she picked. And the generations of children she cared for in the two church congregations and the preschool that are represented here today.

Aya continued to sit on mom’s lap until she left for Green Mountain nursing home last year. Long after some of her behavior had become disturbing and frightening to us.

A Caregiving and Creative spirit. You’ll be missed, mom and I know Aya misses you too.

Author’s note: My Mother passed away in February 2019. This story was originally read at her memorial service the following month.