Caturday: Sneakers

Some of you might have seen my super thankful post last week:

Post by Jen Wesh.

Well here's what it was in reference too - Sneakers.

Sneakers is my great uncle's kitty cat and has been for roughly 10 years now. Uncle John (Unk) fed a stray or two on and off through the years, but one must have really caught his heart because Unk spent weeks - maybe even close to a couple months - with his door open trying to convince Sneakers ("Sneaks") that the inside-life was the life to lead. Unk was eventually successful and since then, he's referred to Sneaks as "his boy" and "his reason to get up in the morning." Though the fat cat (he used to be huge) often hid from company, Unk talked about a kitty who liked pets, sat on his lap and curled up on the long-empty side of the bed that had belonged to Aunt Anne when she was still alive.

Unfortunately, before Christmas, Unk was hospitalized and ended up not going home. A neighbor was kind enough to check on Sneakers and put food and fresh water out for him, but with a change in weather (and, I truly believe, depression with Unk gone), Sneakers became over-run with fleas, lost a great deal of weight and stopped using the litter box. After living alone for about a month and hearing how poorly he was doing, I headed over with Advantage and a hope I'd find the fairly elusive kitty... and he was bad! Buried under a bunch of my great uncle's stuff, Sneakers was much thinner than I'd even seen him, covered in scabs (from scratching at flea bites) and smelled awful from pretty much never leaving the room he was in (and not using a litter box). The house was also warm, making the smell that much more awful. My oh so wonderful vet tech buddy not only answered the phone when I dialed her number, but she answered all my random questions and she inspired that wonderful post above - I've been so lucky to meet some wonderful, sweet, truly self-less people who answer my random calls.

Not only did I get Advantage on Sneakers, but I got him into a crate to be on his way to the vet too. Thank you, West Deptford Animal Hospital for taking him in ans loving this stinky, scabby boy - he's already doing so much better!

Signs

This song reminds me of my dad.

I lit a fire with the love you left behind
And it burned wild and crept up the mountain side
I followed your ashes into outer space
I can't look out the window, I can't look at this place.
I can't look at the stars
They make me wonder where you are
Stars, up on heaven's boulevard
And if I know you at all, I know you've gone too far
So I, I can't look at the stars.

Well, the other night I had a dream and in it, I was sitting in this big field and I was singing this song, the chorus from what I remember...

And I can't look at the stars
They make me wonder where you are
Stars, up on heaven's boulevard
And if I know you at all, I know you've gone too far
So I, I can't look at the stars.
Stars
Stars, they make me wonder where you are

And as I was singing, this beautiful snowy owl flew out of the woods near by and drifted around in the sky, a semi-circle before flying back into the woods. It was beautiful and I thought, "Wow, was that a sign? Was that him?" I'm singing this song that reminds me of him and this beautiful bird flies out - birds like that remind me of my dad, mostly red-tailed hawks and bald eagles, but birds of prey in general really.

Just as I was thinking this, just as I was questioning it (I mean, it was a snowy old, not a red-tailed hawk, I thought, over-analyzing), this tree near by erupted (there's no other word for it) with these birds that burst out of the tree and flew in every direction out, up and then they came together in the sky before landing near me - and there they were, an arm's length away from me and they were what must have been 15, maybe 20 red-tailed hawk fledglings.

That was it, that was the dream.

As if all that weren't enough "signs", this song came on while I was in the car with my aunt a couple days later and I said, "This song reminds me of my dad" and I went to tell her about my dream (I hadn't told anyone at this point). Just as I opened my mouth to begin, she cut me off: "Look at that!"

On the car ahead of us, after a couple random numbers, the last three letters on the license plate were "D-A-D"

I hear you, Dad, and I hope you hear me too - I miss you, I miss you, I miss you.