A time of sadness

I know I've been remiss on posting but frankly, my heart hasn't been in it.  There are several things happening in my world right now that have given me a heavy heart, a sort of convergence of endings, if you will. I know touches of happiness are glowing around the dark clouds , and  I know things will be better soon, or at least more settled...but for now, it just plain hurts.

Yesterday was one of those endings.  Our cat Maynard, the senior feline member of our family, left our world for one where, hopefully, he'll be happily lounging in the sunshine with his brothers and friends who went before him.  He was a "feral" cat in my yard when I lived in Chimayo in 1993, one of six I fed, caught, had neutered, and re-released. 

I first saw him one morning after taking kitchen garbage out to the little screen bin in the front yard.  I had no sooner gone back into the house than two cats were out in the yard...Whisper was head first, in the bin, looking for food.  Maynard was sitting nearby, acting as sentinel.  It was a few more weeks of observation before I finally figured out that Whisper, who I always imagined was his brother, was deaf, and Maynard was his guard.  It remained that way until Whisper passed quietly in his sleep, almost three years ago.

When I moved to Taos in winter of 1994, it took me two weeks up here to
realize I couldn't live without them, so I went back to Chimayo
(luckily, the house was not yet re-rented) and trapped them.  They were brought indoors with our other three cats, with nary a hiss or scratch.  He has been one of my best friends since, never wanting for anything more than someone to snuggle with for naps, and tucking himself inside my arm in bed on cold winter nights.  As I told him yesterday at the end, the part that hurts is for us to bear, not for him. 

Here is a photo taken about five days ago.  Bob (at almost 20 lbs.) looking out for his best buddy, Maynard (at 5 lbs. at the end).  The love between them was something I'll not soon forget.