Relatively sure I know how this will end, but let's put this 7-1 record to the test.
16 thoughts on “November 13, 2022: Reckoning”
On September 15, 2003, my now wife called me from work. Her co-worker had found a baby cat on the highway on her way in from work. Its mother and siblings had been run over and only this cat remained. Would I take it, she asked. She had a fractious cat that would not welcome any other cats.
I agreed to take it, if I could name it. I named him Jags after Mick Jagger. Jags was a really affectionate cat, but when I would leave for work or school (I was still in law school at the time), he would lay down in front of the door as an active of protest that I was leaving. I soon realized that Jags needed a buddy.
The next spring, one of the patients at the clinic that my now wife worked at had a cat that had kittens. I agreed to take one. He was born on May 27, 2004 and I got him about two months or so after that. I named him Theodore Finkle, or Theo for short. Jags and Theo got along famously, although Theo was kind of standoffish towards humans, unlike Jags. We eventually added a third cat, Ellie, that kind of disrupted the cat relationship between Jags and Theo, but those two always got along. That third cat was a hisser and growler and Jags would engage in that behavior, too, but little Theo never did. He was always playful and he'd try to play with both Jags and Ellie, and if Ellie would start hissing at him, he'd never reciprocate. He'd just ignore her.
Ellie and Jags both passed away last year, but Theo persisted. He turned 18 in May and he was obviously aging quite a bit. No longer able to jump, we put steps for him to get up the couch or into bed. "We" (I was against it because I could foresee taking care of cats until I'm 75) decided to get two new cats last fall (Leonard and Ralphie) and they were super high energy. One time they were pestering Theo and he hissed at them. Once. The only time I ever heard him do that. They pretty much left him alone after that and conducted their misadventures together. They all co-existed and Ralphie and Leonard have never hissed even once (they are literally brothers from the same litter).
It became apparent that poor old Theo was nearing the end this summer. As he slowly lost weight and became more shaky, we did what we could to keep him going and comfortable. Yesterday, though, was the end. No longer able to control bodily functions and unable to do much more than sleep all day long, we came to the conclusion that we needed to end his misery. So, we took him in and had him euthanized. He died in my wife's arms.
I had a flood of emotions flow through me as I watched him take his last breath. He was a final link to those days before I was married when it was just me and those two cats living together. Aloof at first, he became my close companion. He would sit on my lap for an hour or two at a time while I worked in the basement. He slept next to me almost every night. I could call his name and he would come running to me from anywhere in the house. He was truly my little buddy.
I also thought about my dad, who died less than a month ago. He was an absolute constant in my life from the day I was born. Theo was an absolute constant in my life for almost two decades. But, they are both gone and it stung a lot because the older I get, the more I realize that there's just this one person inside my head and these things that are "constants" are not really constants.
When I was in high school, the principal (a Catholic priest) would comment on various students' gripes with the saying that "this reminds one of the transitory nature of life." That line was kind of a way for him to signal that he thought the gripe of the day was pretty insignificant. Yesterday, though, that saying exploded back into my consciousness. Life is transitory. What you have can and will be taken away, today: tomorrow, whenever. This is probably a (nearly) universal experience for us as we age: the lesson of the transitions of life. People come and go. Friends drift away and new people come into your life. Loved ones die. Children grow up and leave. Little Miss SBG is now about 2 1/2 years from graduating from high school and leaving for college.
Little Ralphie is now my buddy and he comes to sit on my lap every night. It is interesting to me how he seems to have a daily schedule. He's off doing cat things all day and doesn't want to be bothered. But at night, he jumps up into my lap and snuggles for a long while as if to check in.
So, yesterday was a day to say goodbye to my little buddy Theo. And to remember Dad. And also to remember to treat each day as a precious gift because tomorrow is not promised to anyone. But also, life does go on. I have learned to provide some of the care for my mother that my Dad used to provide her. She can be anxious about things and Dad was pretty good at calming her down. That's kind of fallen to me now and I feel a sense of paying Dad back a little for all he did for me these last 57+ years.
Have a good day, everyone. I'm gonna do my best to do just that.
❤️
Beautifully rendered. Thank you for sharing, today, all the years leading to today, and all the years to come.
We get one shot in life. It is both hard and important to be reminded of that.
A meditation like this is a gift. Thank you for the gentle, warm reminder.
May Jags & Theo dwell forever in your heart. Thanks for so indelibly sharing them, and Butch, with us in the early years of this community.
You know, you have a stud RB in the backfield and need 6 inches. Why don't you give it to him?
I mean, who is coaching this team? Pete Carroll?
What?
Nice things never happen. Unbelievable!
Like I said. Unbelievable. And inevitable.
Double what?
Vikings gonna Viking. Getting that out there ahead of time.
The fumble recovery in the endzone was the first play I've watched this year.
Somewhat ironically, this type of chart is what I love so much about baseball. Football isn't supposed to work this way, and the joke is this proves the vikes aren't as good as their record, but... I've got no complaints. This season has been plenty fun, and hopefully will continue to be until they spectacularly lose a playoff game they're supposed to win.
Pirates SS Oneil Cruz continues hitting mammoth home runs playing softball in DR. pic.twitter.com/nxjic0asdW
On September 15, 2003, my now wife called me from work. Her co-worker had found a baby cat on the highway on her way in from work. Its mother and siblings had been run over and only this cat remained. Would I take it, she asked. She had a fractious cat that would not welcome any other cats.
I agreed to take it, if I could name it. I named him Jags after Mick Jagger. Jags was a really affectionate cat, but when I would leave for work or school (I was still in law school at the time), he would lay down in front of the door as an active of protest that I was leaving. I soon realized that Jags needed a buddy.
The next spring, one of the patients at the clinic that my now wife worked at had a cat that had kittens. I agreed to take one. He was born on May 27, 2004 and I got him about two months or so after that. I named him Theodore Finkle, or Theo for short. Jags and Theo got along famously, although Theo was kind of standoffish towards humans, unlike Jags. We eventually added a third cat, Ellie, that kind of disrupted the cat relationship between Jags and Theo, but those two always got along. That third cat was a hisser and growler and Jags would engage in that behavior, too, but little Theo never did. He was always playful and he'd try to play with both Jags and Ellie, and if Ellie would start hissing at him, he'd never reciprocate. He'd just ignore her.
Ellie and Jags both passed away last year, but Theo persisted. He turned 18 in May and he was obviously aging quite a bit. No longer able to jump, we put steps for him to get up the couch or into bed. "We" (I was against it because I could foresee taking care of cats until I'm 75) decided to get two new cats last fall (Leonard and Ralphie) and they were super high energy. One time they were pestering Theo and he hissed at them. Once. The only time I ever heard him do that. They pretty much left him alone after that and conducted their misadventures together. They all co-existed and Ralphie and Leonard have never hissed even once (they are literally brothers from the same litter).
It became apparent that poor old Theo was nearing the end this summer. As he slowly lost weight and became more shaky, we did what we could to keep him going and comfortable. Yesterday, though, was the end. No longer able to control bodily functions and unable to do much more than sleep all day long, we came to the conclusion that we needed to end his misery. So, we took him in and had him euthanized. He died in my wife's arms.
I had a flood of emotions flow through me as I watched him take his last breath. He was a final link to those days before I was married when it was just me and those two cats living together. Aloof at first, he became my close companion. He would sit on my lap for an hour or two at a time while I worked in the basement. He slept next to me almost every night. I could call his name and he would come running to me from anywhere in the house. He was truly my little buddy.
I also thought about my dad, who died less than a month ago. He was an absolute constant in my life from the day I was born. Theo was an absolute constant in my life for almost two decades. But, they are both gone and it stung a lot because the older I get, the more I realize that there's just this one person inside my head and these things that are "constants" are not really constants.
When I was in high school, the principal (a Catholic priest) would comment on various students' gripes with the saying that "this reminds one of the transitory nature of life." That line was kind of a way for him to signal that he thought the gripe of the day was pretty insignificant. Yesterday, though, that saying exploded back into my consciousness. Life is transitory. What you have can and will be taken away, today: tomorrow, whenever. This is probably a (nearly) universal experience for us as we age: the lesson of the transitions of life. People come and go. Friends drift away and new people come into your life. Loved ones die. Children grow up and leave. Little Miss SBG is now about 2 1/2 years from graduating from high school and leaving for college.
Little Ralphie is now my buddy and he comes to sit on my lap every night. It is interesting to me how he seems to have a daily schedule. He's off doing cat things all day and doesn't want to be bothered. But at night, he jumps up into my lap and snuggles for a long while as if to check in.
So, yesterday was a day to say goodbye to my little buddy Theo. And to remember Dad. And also to remember to treat each day as a precious gift because tomorrow is not promised to anyone. But also, life does go on. I have learned to provide some of the care for my mother that my Dad used to provide her. She can be anxious about things and Dad was pretty good at calming her down. That's kind of fallen to me now and I feel a sense of paying Dad back a little for all he did for me these last 57+ years.
Have a good day, everyone. I'm gonna do my best to do just that.
❤️
Beautifully rendered. Thank you for sharing, today, all the years leading to today, and all the years to come.
We get one shot in life. It is both hard and important to be reminded of that.
A meditation like this is a gift. Thank you for the gentle, warm reminder.
May Jags & Theo dwell forever in your heart. Thanks for so indelibly sharing them, and Butch, with us in the early years of this community.
You know, you have a stud RB in the backfield and need 6 inches. Why don't you give it to him?
I mean, who is coaching this team? Pete Carroll?
What?
Nice things never happen. Unbelievable!
Like I said. Unbelievable. And inevitable.
Double what?
Vikings gonna Viking. Getting that out there ahead of time.
Timing is everything.
yeesh.
The fumble recovery in the endzone was the first play I've watched this year.
Somewhat ironically, this type of chart is what I love so much about baseball. Football isn't supposed to work this way, and the joke is this proves the vikes aren't as good as their record, but... I've got no complaints. This season has been plenty fun, and hopefully will continue to be until they spectacularly lose a playoff game they're supposed to win.