One of the worst things I've ever done was to marry my ex-wife. Another of the stupidest things I've done was to give in to her request that I leave my cat, Cairo, behind so that her cat, Bunches, wouldn't be lonely.
We found Cairo outside, one of a litter of kittens of "Momma Cat" as we called her. Cai's eyes were closed due to an eye infection, and she was weak and very thin.
We brought her inside (making Momma Cat really angry in the process) and cleaned the goop out of her eyes. But a day or two later, the eyes had closed again.
We brought her in again and again cleaned out the goop. It was then that we made the decision to keep her. She agreed to my suggestion of "Cairo" as the cat's name, and we took her to the animal hospital to get the eye infection taken care of.
It was then at the vet told us the chilling news. A few more days at most, and Cairo would have died.
But to get back to the original story, my ex convinced me to leave Cairo behind so that Bunches wouldn't be lonely. True, that wasn't the only reason. Cai really didn't like to travel in vehicles. She didn't. In fact, she downright hated it. If I had taken her when I was kicked out (this was after she filed for divorce) I would have had to have Cai sedated at the animal hospital. Like I said, she really hated traveling in vehicles.
But Cairo was a daddy's girl and she loved her daddy. And I loved her right back. Add another to the pile of regrets that I've accumulated over the years ... leaving Cairo behind.
I remember one 'incident' that happened after I found out that my then-wife wanted a divorce (which she had the audacity to tell me about in a counseling session ... one of the very very few she attended. Marital councelling works best when both parties in the marriage go ... but I digress.) Stacey (my ex-wife) was stroking Cairo and Cai was making it clear that she wasn't happy about it. Her tail thumped the couch so hard that you could hear it 'thump ... thump ... thump'. Then, Cai turned her head and nipped Stacey's hand. She said one of "those" words, and stalked off.
I picked up Cairo and kissed her on her nose. I told her she was a good girl, and I had no problems kissing her on her nose or in picking her up. True, she wasn't purring, but I still had no problems.
I miss Cairo. I think about her almost every day. True, I could get another cat, but it wouldn't be Cairo. I think she was one of those once-in-a-lifetime cats (or dogs) that you're sometimes graced with.
Cairo, like all cats, is inquisitive. Here she is, wanting to get inside the monitor. (Yes, that is Age of Empires II that we're playing.)
Cute, isn't she? Like I said, she's (at least she was) a daddy's girl. So her favourite spot tended to be my computer chair
And when she wasn't sleeping in it, she was sitting in it or on the back.
Like Commander Uhura said to Admiral Kirk in Star Trek IV, "I should never have left her." OK...somebody's going to tell me that that's not what she said to Admiral Kirk, and they're right. She was talking about Pavel Chekov and her exact words were "Admiral, I should never have left him."
But the regret is the same. Except in my case it's real. I should never had left her.
I hope that when I die and she passes we meet again in Heaven. I hope she'll forgive me.
Cai, if you can 'feel' thoughts and or emotions from a distance, I love you. I miss you terribly.
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