Tragedy struck the Fussy household last week. In accordance with my own private rules we honored Katie at my house by passing out armloads of treats to the pets for their hard work, "Good breathing" "Nice meow!" "Good puppy, good sleep."
This week those in Fussydom are working through the grief and in so doing trying to break me. Witness Jackson's emotional intelligence quotient, and keep your hanky nearby.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
A boy and his dog
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It was a beautiful, articulatly expressed, spot-on sentiment. Katie's love DOES belong to Katie, and Jackson was exactly right to tell his mother so.
ReplyDeleteI hope he figures out a way to get that love to her. Even now, some six years after Tao-Tao lost his race across the street to a lumber truck, I still stop every once in a while to send up a snerk to him.
Writing that got me thinking, though. I miss Tao-Tao actively, but I don't feel the same about the two cats I lost before him. Coco and Shalimar both contracted feline infectious peritinitis, and died within a month of one another. I loved them dearly and mourned their passing with a grief that surprised even me, yet I don't stop to think of them as often as I do Tao. In wondering why that is, I've come up with these items - do any of them seem likely to anyone?
1. Coco and Shalimar were owned by me singly. I wasn't with my husband when I had them.
2. I had C & S at a time in my life that I really don't care to think on very often. They were given to me by my biological mother (to whom I no longer speak) and lived with me during a period of hardship and upheaval.
3. I still have Tao's sister, niece and nephews. Does living with part of his family keep him more present in my mind?
4. I still live in the house that Tao-Tao lived in - I had Coco and Shalimar in a series of apartments in towns I no longer even visit.
Strange. And something I wouldn't have thought much about without your giving me this space. Thanks.
Yeah, I'm waiting for Jackson to grow up so I can ask him to be my boyfriend. He's amazing.
ReplyDeleteI think it has a lot to do with still living in the same place where you lived with Tao. You have visual triggers for specific memories and events.
You're welcome, you know how fascinated I am by death and how people deal with it.