A Cat's Tale

It has been a week since we lost our handsome black cat, Edgar. He has been a part of family for just over 16 years and even as I write this my heart is heavy and I have to remind myself to breathe. He joined our household back in 2001 as a bright-eyed kitten...

I had been working from home for a few years at that point, and friends told me to just tell David that I was in need of some office staff. First adopted was Nikki -- who was my 'administrative assistant', and then a bit later this little soul, known to many as my 'receptionist' joined our family. Edgar took his role very seriously. He greeted everyone and engaged them in conversation. Many a folk had to be told that he would not stop talking with them until they chatted back.

He was never far from the action. During the filming of my Simply Quilts episode, at my home, Edgar was still rather young and would chew on anything plastic. This included wires for the cameras, until he became intrigued with the directors monitor. On finding the monitor he sat down to watch intently the whole process. Silently, fully engrossed.

Edgar was always in the studio, for I was always in the studio, so he has appeared in a number of magazine articles along with me - or a bunch of quilts. You would have seen both he an Nikki mentioned in Quilters Home as my office staff, or holding down a stack of quilts in Patchwork tsushin, and battling with me for star billing in the very first issue of Generation Q Magazine.

Always the perfect gentleman in the studio he would gladly move off the project I was working on when asked and given another soft spot to lay on. It just had to be close enough by to the keep an eye on the action. One of Edgar's favorite soft spots was on the ironing station - in the middle of the room, right by the window.

It has been impossible for me to enter the studio this week for more than a few minutes. Today I am trying just to remain in here long enough to write this post. Baby steps.

A friend on FaceBook posted a poem this week that hit home.

“to live in this world
you must be able
to do three things
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go”
~ Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1

Letting go is hard, but Dave and I continue down this long road...taking baby steps and reminding ourselves to breathe.