A Eulogy for Booey

Tonight we lost a member of our family.  His name was Booey and he was our oldest cat.  We took him to the emergency room tonight because he was short of breath and wasn't moving very much.

The vet on staff, said that his heart was "galloping" as if there was a third beat to the usual two that would make up your average heartbeat.  After the X-rays were displayed, we discovered that his lungs were filled and surrounded by fluid.  When I heard that it would be a matter of weeks before nature would catch up to him and treatment would only buy months at best, my wife and I decided that putting him to sleep would be the best thing.

I've cried more in the last few hours than I have in a seriously long time.  I had only known him for four of his ten years, but I have to say that he and I became friends (even though I knew deep down that his Mama was first on his list).  He was always reliably in one of a few places at any given time, and few were ever as vocal about their feelings as he was.

When I met him, he was about 6 and it was at the end of my first date with Rae Rae.  He sat across from me beside the television, staring at me for hours, not moving at all.  He stared so long, that he got a little cross-eyed from the whole thing, thus coining the visual state of "Boo-eyes".

His Norman Bates side was also a constant source of comedy in the home.  If I was petting him and Rae Rae was in the room, he would enjoy the petting, while following Mama around the room saying little sweet "maaahhms" to her.  That's right.  He was so enamored with her, that he would literally say "Mom".

Whenever we would have a party or just a few people over, he would camp out in the closet and wait for the noise to subside.  Like in any get together, it would get down to one or two stragglers hanging out and -- very slowly and cautiously -- he would eke into the room to investigate.  When he walked, it sounded like high heels; he was ever tiptoeing, not realizing that it was always a lot louder on a hardwood floor than he desired it to be.

The wound is still fresh in my heart.  I keep looking at those few places that he would usually be sleeping, wishing that he would be there.  We have three other cats who we love very much, but Booey's absence is felt deeply and the home does not feel like it is full anymore.

When I lost my grandmother in 2003, although I loved her deeply, I did not cry very much.  In the presence of the whole family, filled with a mixture of emotions that added up to an over-spiced food dish, I felt an overwhelming amount of restraint.  I think I felt it better to be strong for my Mom, than to join in with everyone else.

Tonight, when faced with the end of Booey's life on this planet, my heart swelled and sank all at once and I couldn't have stopped crying even if I tried.  We were with him right until the end, and it was done in a humane and honorable way.

Unlike the complexities of human relationships, the love of Booey reminds me of the simple pleasures in life, which can be just a pat on the head or falling asleep at your feet...and your life is better because they're there.

Farewell my beautiful boy.  I'll miss you.  If there's a heaven anywhere, I know yours would be filled with Elton John mixtapes, olive sampling trays and a couch piled with blankets.