Epitaph for Molly

This morning was a sad, but inevitable day in the life of our family.  Our cat Molly, (who has been with us since 1999 and had already survived a battle with cancer and a subsequent amputation of her back leg), in the past year developed another tumor in her remaining back leg.  It grew quickly and we knew early on that once her quality of life diminished we would need to put her to sleep.  Today was that day.  Although she had no outward signs of pain, it was clear that the tumor was winning, and was starving her to death.  The tumor was at least as big as my fist in the past few weeks, weighing down her only good rear leg.  This past week it was not uncommon for her to spend 12-18 hours in one spot at a time.  Sharon took her to South Ridge Veterinary Hospital in Kannapolis, where we've developed a good relationship.  Sharon said her transition was extremely peaceful and happened very quickly.

Molly had never been a fan of the kids, but in these last days she had warmed to them, which was nice to see. Whether she finally realized they were not a threat, or was just too tired to care, I'm not sure.  She loved adults, though, especially Sharon and myself.

Molly was our first "child".  We got her as a kitten when we found out Sharon's allergies to dogs were going to prohibit us from having a dog inside - way back in 1999.  I still remember the day we brought her home.  I remember meeting her mother ("Pepper") and getting a glimpse at the time of her brother Hunter, who would later join our family too.  Those of you that remember Hunter may not know that Molly's original owners had nicknamed her Hunter, but on the car ride home, I renamed her Molly.  The name "Hunter" eventually got transferred to her brother somehow.  I remember being on my hands and knees and coaxing her out of the cat carrier.  We had no idea that Molly would turn to Molly, Peepers, and Hunter - who will always be the original three.  Now only Peepers is left of those.  He's getting to be a little crotchety and has minimum patience with the young whippersnapper Buddy.  It will be interesting what happens in the next chapter of our feline journey......

As I did with Hunter, I'll close by saying some things we learned from Molly....

• Who God brings into your family may not be the perfect fit in your eyes, but in God's eyes it was the plan all along.  
• The best way to end any day is with cuddling.
• When you don't have the strength to stand, it's okay to lean on someone you love.  
• Everyone needs times of solitude.  

Goodbye Molzes.  :'(

Cat Chess

Our new checkered area rug allows us to play a fun new game I call "Cat Chess." It looks as if Molly has just moved Hunter into checkmate.

Feline Supervisor

Tonight after our little guy was in bed, I brought out the church laptop and began working on a Quarterly Report for church. Molly (the cat we've had the longest of our three, and the three-legged cancer survivor) decided to look on and supervise my work. This was, of course, in between attempts to solicit me to pet her, which I obliged.

It's been a long, but mostly good day. our family helped out with Operation Inasmuch projects in the community in the AM, and I took the little guy to see "Monsters vs. Aliens" while Sharon went to visit her mother in the hospital.

A rare scene

My wife pulled me away from church website editing to draw my attention to what is a rare sight in our house: All three of our cats together. Now for "Hutter" and "Pee", the two tom cats on the right in the picture, this is not uncommon. They love each other so much, if they weren't both males, I'd wonder about their "friendship." Molly, on the other hand (she's the solid black one on the left) is the aloof and prissy female. She's also a recent amputee, having lost a back leg to cancer a few months back. Hunter and Molly are biological siblings. However, for the most part, Molly doesn't care too much for the other two (or for Nathan for that matter). Since her surgery, though, she's had to essentially learn to walk again, and has had some struggles. So, a 4 year old toddler is more of a threat than a playmate in her eyes. We're working with Nathan on how to be more gentle, though.

The power has went off twice tonight. It's quite windy outside, I'm told, as the cold front comes in. We went out tonight to eat to celebrate the New Year, and there was definitely a chill in the air.

Oh, in the right of the picture, you'll notice our lovely kitchen floor, or rather lack of a kitchen floor. Our kitchen floor covering (and part of the floor itself) had to be replaced because of a water problem under the kitchen sink. We've been waiting on the contractor to finish, but then the holidays hit and that delayed things even more.