a legacy

It has been a crazy second half of March. We have battled croup (both kids), influenza, a sinus infection that required anthrax antibiotics (really) to clear up, business travel, a mysterious face- and arm-covering rash, and a billion appointments and missed appointments. But the hardest thing was saying goodbye to our cat, Lucci. She was 21 years old, and I'd had her and her sister since I was a sophomore in high school. Bijoux passed away a year ago, and Lucci said goodbye yesterday, so we are without feline companionship for the first time ever for the kids (and in decades for me!). She went blind over the weekend, and she had already gone deaf and had severe arthritis, so getting around was very difficult for her. She seemed disoriented and scared and was not eating well. We tried to give her some peace in a gentle farewell.

Caroline took this pretty hard. We thought at her age, she would just be excited about the future of getting two new sister kittens (something we'd mentioned we'd do sometime after we get over mourning our other cats) and not really get caught up in too much sadness. Who can resist the healing power of kittens?! But she has been surprisingly focused on the loss of Lucci.

When we braced her for the news, we talked about how Lucci had gone blind and must be really scared and nervous about what was going on around her, since she also can't hear. Caroline tried to find the positive, "Well she still has 3 senses left. I think that means she has 3 lives left."

Later, when I was going through her papers from school, I found this memorial drawing she made:



At the bottom, that's a mouse. Because "all cats love mice! She should have one!"

She requested that we get Lucci's ashes back and plant a garden in her memory, placing the ashes in with the flowers.

After dinner, she wrote a note.


[heart] Bye bye [heart]

Dear Lucci,
I hope you are ok in your deth.
I'm sad that your ashes.

Good bye,
Caroline

And this morning, "to honor Lucci's memory," she chose underwear made of fabric covered in playful cats. Lucci would be honored by special underwear, indeed.

taskmaster

"Mama, where's my kitty calendar? You know the square one with the cute kittens on the front?"

Why do you need that?

"I have to schedule something. On May 14th, I'm going to lose my first tooth. I need to pencil it in."

letting 'em down easy

Caroline "graduated" from the beginner swim classes to an advanced section. When this happens, the swim school gives you a little card, and you go to the front desk and they schedule you with a different class at the new level. Because she'd done so well with her current instructor, I requested him again. When I told her that she was indeed in the new class level, but she'd still be with John, I thought she'd be happy.

She said, "Oohhhh. Hm."

I asked if there was a reason she wanted to have a different teacher.

"Well, Mom, I think I'm just really interested in meeting new people."

understatement of the year

While I was brushing her hair...

"Mom, I'm kind of dramaful, don't you think?"

"Yes, you are very dramatic. Though I think a better word is 'theatrical'."

"I should really get some puppets."

I laughed and pulled her hair into a ponytail.

She yelped an, "Ow!"

I paused, confused about the pain.

Then she said, "Good example, right? See what I did there?"