The grief feels insurmountable on that final day. The all too brief time between ‘Gotcha Day’ and crossing the Rainbow Bridge is invariably short, however, we are thankful for the sheer joy, love, dust bunnies and amazing years these critters shared with our family.
With heavy hearts yet abundant sweet memories to share, we gathered among the red rocks of Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah, to lovingly tuck in 40 years of fluff balls who shared their lives, silly antics and in some cases, big attitudes, with us. We fondly remember the magic, amusement and snuggles they gave us over the decades which will forever leave smiles on our faces….and paw prints on our hearts.
From our first kitty in 1986 for a little kid, now a grown woman, who longed to have her very own kitten, Perry led the way. This boy with his beautiful blue eyes was all tomcat complete with the built-in attitude. Next up was Travis, our green-eyed Tabby boy who followed Miranda home from elementary school and stayed 16 years with us. This, of course, was much longer than the ‘one night’ I said he could stay.
In 1996 while skiing at Lake Tahoe I fell for the most beautiful Golden Retriever on the Alpine Meadows mountain. Kyle worked as an avalanche rescue dog and on the drive home I was able to track down the soon-to-be offspring of that Golden boy. Enter our Golden girl, Tyler, who kept us all in line like a little, furry mother. Our girl was followed three years later by her adorable yet goofy brother, Tucker, who would simply bat his eyes and all his wishes came true. All this fur brought even more dust bunnies into our home yet we never complained.
Miranda adopted an orange Tabby named Larry who under went a name change to Jovy. For the record, I think Larry fit him just fine, but he responded to Jovy as long as he had a warm spot on the sofa. Jovy lived a long, spoiled life as an only cat, yet somehow tolerated the arrival of his siblings (our grandchildren) Jack and Betsy.
Boonedocker, aka Mr. Boone, was next to join the family yet honestly he was the least expected addition to our home. While we volunteered at Best Friends Animal Society after the loss of Tucker, Jim became absolutely smitten with this black & white, 1-1/2 year old muttie. Both boys looked me in the eyes and at that moment Boone’s amazing Gotcha Day was sealed right then and there.
Two years later with a trip across the Navajo Nation we found our spirited Piper who joined our pack. Dubbed ‘The Queen of the Rez’, we now rolled in our Airstream as The Four Mutties. I had joyfully found my kindred spirit in this gypsy girl who lived for adventure. Boone & Piper enjoyed the Airstream life traveling from Alaska to Key West; San Diego to Maine. It has been said that they have more miles and adventures under their paws than a lot of people. We wholeheartedly agree.
With the loss of the last of our pack, Princess Piper, the Rainbow Bridge will be our first stop someday where we look forward to the rush of critters with familiar barks and meows. Bringing up the rear of the pack will be Perry, no doubt, with his sarcastic meow wondering what took us so long.
We could not imagine our lives without any one of these critters and acknowledge how very fortunate we were to have had the decades of memories with them. Until we meet again at the Rainbow Bridge, you are all missed more than you know. Rest well.
Camp Dawg 