No.  I don't think I miss her.  She lives too much with me, part
memories, part wise cat instructions for the present.  My grief comes in
unexpected moments, dreams, when my attention wavers, when I write to
inform the past.  Time heals, compels today and tomorrow.  I honor the
dead by letting them go as much as possible.

I am after all heading to where I'm going whether or not I want.

Nonetheless, thank you.  I did love the fur ball.  Although that file
tongue working over a spot on my chest at a weird dark morning hour did
not always find me endowed with patience.  She needed far more than nine
lives to survive as long as she did.  I do not always edit my behavior
as I frequently do my writing.  ;-)

You and Bobby stirred my nostalgia and briefly exposed a softer side.
Not to worry, these lapses don't last.

S.


-----Original Message-----
From: On Behalf Of Betty B
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 3:56 PM
Subject: Re: Eggstasy? (was Astro Bird Incident report)

Steve, that was a touching story.  I know you miss your Shona but I'm
glad
she brought you so many years of happiness.

Betty

In a message dated 10/24/2000 2:03:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Shona died within a year of my mother: the last, other than then
plants
>  and me, of a household once lively with parents, dog, and cat.  She
>  lived to twenty-one: part chocolate Burmese, part tortoise-shell
>  Siamese, rich aqua-marine eyes.
>
>  I named her, at kitten-hood and after many weeks, from the Yiddish
for
>  precious/beautiful/exalted because I cherished her nobility,
quickness,
>  rapport, and repartee for which I estimated her to be unique.
>
>  Except for my Washington stay, we  lived together either at an
apartment
>  in town or with my folks..  In my absence she snuggled with my mother
>  who one night carried her back to me saying she found the cat too
>  disturbing.  Shona never left me again.
>
>  My mother died on her hospital bed in her living-room.  When I put
Shona
>  beside the body she looked, paused, jumped off the bed, went to a
corner
>  of the room where I never saw her go, curled up, and slept for at
least
>  a day.  She finally woke, gave me a hello, and didn't again sleep in
>  that corner.
>
>  In cool weather she would maneuver under my blankets and curled into
my
>  crotch.  No lovers ever were closer, none more trusted.
>
>  When she died I cried for a week.  Of course I mourned more than
Shona:
>  she catalyzed my grief.
>
>  From time to time she shows up and talks to me.  She seemed more
>  proficient with English than I with Cat.   Then, I have no ear for
>  accents.
>
>  S.
>