by Kathryn London-Penny
Yesterday morning at dawn, I lost my friend. "Livvy" was our gorgeous "guard cat", the sentry that we would often find just sitting and watching us while we slept. She took her duties seriously!
She was a stunning calico the colours of licorice ice cream, with a strong and demanding meowll when she wanted to get outside and eat grass in her beloved backyard. She also like apple turnovers and beating up her big brother, Murphy Cat.
The last few months, she had been getting pretty sick, despite our many efforts to prevent her kidney disease from taking her too soon from us. On Monday morning, before it was light, she took several deep breaths and passed away in our bed, wrapped in her familiar blankets, and with Michael and I by her side. We were nervously trying to decide if we should wrap her up and rush her to the vet so they could help her pass on. But, in the end, she decided to do it her way. And, with love, we were there. I am glad she was home in her own bed.
After we cried and cried and wrapped Livvy in her big blue blanket to go to the kitty funeral home, we decided the best thing would be to take a nice distracting drive in the country. As we were driving, the sun was out, it was a beautiful afternoon with some high overhead cloud. All of a sudden Michael said, "look at that -- it's a rainbow." Sure enough, there between two clouds in the sky right above our car was a tiny but vibrantly coloured rainbow, with the sun still shining all around. This was truly an odd occurence on a sunny March day in Canada! We knew then that Livvy had reached the Rainbow Bridge, and wanted us to know that everything was going to be alright. She would be waiting.
Thank you and love to all.