Remembering Red

By Marc

On the last day of June last year I found Red had died nearby my house in a garden next to a main road. This article is just a little memorial for him. Many of you know plenty about him and I have focused less on those things and more on the very beginning and the very end of his life with me. I have talked plenty – if not too much – about the middle. I specifically asked Michael to just put the pictures in sequence and although I have made the pics relatively small it may take a while to load up the 24 pictures so you might need to give it a moment. It’s just how I wanted it and Michael has been very accommodating. I’m doing a ‘commentathon’ today which I will talk about in the paragraph at the end after the photos. They are in a specific order. Michael has simply done exactly what I asked. Thank you Michael, from the bottom of my heart – really.

So there it is – a little bit about the beginning and the end of Red to remember him – he will never end in some other sense but that was some of his short life on this planet. There will be other articles today – this is just the first.

For all the comments made on any article today including this one I am going to donate $5 to PoC.

I always read PoC everyday but I never made much in the way of comments until about 5 weeks after Red died when I was forced out of my deep depression by having to fly off to England for work reasons. I had just spent the last weeks with Lilly being very sad and unable to eat or do much of anything really, least of all talk to people. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. I had no idea, and now I do. Red was like a son to me. I don’t know why – I mean for many reasons he was – and it just turned out this way that I had to lose him. He was the happiest cat that ever lived save a couple days when he moved to our new place and had to be locked in for a short period. I’m proud of the fact that I was able to make his life so great. He got whatever he wanted and he was healthy and always busy and always purring, even whilst he was eating. Purring and eating made him sound a bit like a gremlin!

He loved Lilly so much and she loved him equally. He even welcomed the new 2 kittens with such grace and ease I was so proud of what a great boy he had grown into. Truly a beautiful thing in my life.

The point of the commentathon is simple. Ever since I started commenting and talking about Red everybody here has been so kind to me and it has helped me to no end and it still does, even right now with what I am doing here today. It would be so hard to deal with all this alone. I am doing it to say thank you to you all and to Michael especially for letting me be me and express myself on PoC everyday. The idea is that he will take the money and know best how to donate it to charity. It’s from all of us and it is in memory of Red.

The only condition will be that Michael keep at least a bit of it for him and Charlie. I already am guessing he will insist on donating it all so I’m not telling him that he has to at least keep enough to go out and buy Charlie some roast chicken. That’s the minimum he’s allowed to keep. Michael if you are planning a catio or something in your new house please use the money for it if you want. It’s totally in your hands. You are just not allowed to give every last penny to charity without keeping at least something for you. Those are the rules 🙂

I am around today most of the day and will disappear later to go and spend the evening at Red’s grave planting some new flowers. I always buy orange and red flowers because he was so beautifully orange – a beautiful orange tabby. Comment away, there’s no cutoff – and we will tally it all up tomorrow or later.

THANK YOU all for being such great listeners and friends and for helping me get over this and not feel alone. You guys are the best.

Marc