Skip to main content

Goodbye Bones

The death of someone special or close is tough, but it seems even more so when that death is around Christmas. Of all the holidays, losing someone at this time is hardest. On Christmas Eve morn 2016, my family said goodbye to Bones the cat.


Kim found him around 14 years ago in a rough neighborhood in Jackson, Mississippi. She was helping provide meals to volunteers of a World Changers construction ministry. While going to check on some students, she was met by them shouting, "Miss Kim, Miss Kim! You have to help this kitty! He's sick!" In the backyard of one the homes, the students had come across a litter of feral kittens. Bones was the only kitten they could catch. Kim placed him in a box, and one of the students thought she should ask the owners of the backyard if she could take him. The owner's son said she could take as many as she wanted.

At the vet, Kim was in tears because of how pathetic Bones appeared. The vet staff said they would find a good home for him, but by that time I think Kim had already decided he was family.

How did he come by the name Bones? When I met him, the picture below is what I saw. He looked and felt like a bag of bones. With the white fur and my love for Star Trek, it was clear his name had to be Bones.

I recall him taking a liking to snuggling with me and kneading my right chest. He never stayed long but this was nearly a nightly ritual for us since he was a kitten.

As he grew, it was obvious that he wasn't going to be a full-sized cat. Perhaps it was his breeding or malnourishment but he became known as our "little man." He was also the most skittish cat. He often slinked around as if thinking something was going to jump out and grab him. The only time he didn't seem nervous was at bedtime when the lights were out. Maybe he felt he had more control then and that nothing was going to surprise him. He often jerked when he was touched by surprise and even when he knew he was going to be picked up. I considered him a "Chihuahua Cat" thankfully without the random peeing.

Bones was "my cat" partially because he and I made up the only testosterone in the house.

Fourteen years and some change is a good life for a cat. I miss having my "little man" around.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I Can Honestly Say Jon Is My Best Friend

At the beginning of this year, these were Kate Gosselin's words in an interview with Today's Christian Woman : "I can honestly say Jon is my best friend." Kate also says, "When the babies were born, I was well aware that our marriage could crumble. It was close to doing so at times. But we survived that first year. And then the second one. And then each year after that. Even though the issues have changed, it's never gotten easier. "But Jon and I are more determined than ever that we're in this together. We've told our kids many times that we're always going to be a family. There are no other options. Sure, Jon and I take our stress out on each other, and no, that's not always good or healthy. But we work hard as a team every day."

Separation of Church and State

The phrase "separation of church and state" has been used so frequently in the news (and perhaps I hear it more being in DC/Baltimore region), that I seriously question if anyone really understands the origins of the phrase and how it's been polluted? For many, I'll assume they think it means keeping church or religion out of all government and government supported entities. Wrong.

So God's Work Might Be Displayed

Rousing from an unplanned nap near 1am Saturday, my cellphone blinks in receipt of a message. I assume it's spam to the work email account. Instead, it's a text message from 12:22am. It reads: Baby Pierce got his angel wings today at 3 o clock. News began to circulate around 4pm and trickled to Caringbridge at 11:40pm Friday night. An outpouring of love to the family was already in progress on Facebook and continued through the weekend.