Ten Little Celebrations – January 2022

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As I look at my list of little celebrations in January 2022, I am realizing that my surgery stands out so significantly that getting through the surgery itself (the 1st surgery, the reopening of the incision to release blood, the 2nd surgery) is the major celebration of the month! There are little celebrations around that big one: a sunrise and good grocery shopping experience before the surgery, an excellent chicken soup I made a few days after coming home, the hematoma beginning to fade (although it is still not completely gone 2+ weeks afterward…I am checking/celebrating progress every morning), and my first grocery shopping after the surgery (with the assistance of my husband).

The other celebration that stands out this month….more than a little one…is the death of our cat, Boromir. I was glad I held him close for over an hour on his last day….that he seemed at peace. We are still missing him but also celebrating that Boromir was with us for so many years and particularly through the pandemic when we were at home most of the time; he contributed to the positive vibe that seemed so natural…so easily sustained.

And then there were some ‘usual’ little celebrations:

A great meatloaf. I discovered that adding a little olive oil if the ground beef is very lean and using spaghetti sauce instead of salsa improves the texture and flavor!

Red velvet cake/carrot cake for our 49th wedding anniversary. We both savored our slice of celebratory cake…not having any leftovers!

Peppermint snow ice cream. Celebrating a seasonal favorite and plenty of snow to make it!

A new garage door. It was awful to have a damaged door….I celebrated that we could get it replaced quickly.

Snow on the ground. Celebrating the beautiful scene from the windows of our house….and the different perspective as I walked through the neighborhood.

In Memory of Our Cat

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Our cat since November 200 died this week. He was adult when we got him on November 2003 so was probably 19-20 years old. My husband and I are missing him.

He came to us with a brother. They were named Simba and Puma, but my daughter renamed them Boromir and Faramir after the brothers in Lord of the Rings. Faramir died in April 2017 and Boromir became our ‘only cat.’

His teeth were always problematic and he had tumor that required removal of his jaw almost 10 years ago….one of his ears developed a hematoma then collapsed. But he took those handicaps in stride…continued enjoying his favorite sunny spots and requesting to be let out on the screened deck.

He saw more of us these past few years than any of our other cats did because we have retired from our careers and the pandemic has kept us at home even more the past couple of years. My husband was the primary cat cuddler and provider of an elaborate smorgasbord of small plates with various cat foods across our kitchen floor to tempt the picky eater.  

The cat declined rapidly in the past few weeks with a lot happening during the week of my cancer surgery.  The cat started getting lost in the house…became blind…then seemed to regain some sight. He managed to come upstairs one early morning and meow loudly…clearly wanting something to be different than it was; it was the last time he came upstairs on his own. A few days later, he lost control of his back legs…soon after started refusing to eat or drink and becoming silent.

And now it is a cold, blustery winter day…and our Boromir is not here. The house seems too big and empty right now.  

Cat with a Lion Cut – Update

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Back in June, our cat got a ‘lion cut’ to rid him of matted hair that was pulling his skin and making him uncomfortable. He was not happy about the process, but he quickly began to enjoy how much easier it was to move about. He started spending a lot of time out on the screened deck and started playing with his toys more…and demanding attention. He started acting like a younger cat!

It’s been about 7 weeks since the cut and the fur is growing back. His head does not look as different from the rest of his body and the color/pattern looks more like it did before. The tail is still a bit of fluff. Overall, he is beginning to look more rounded even though we know it is fur! My husband has started brushing him to prevent the matts from forming again. If they do return, we’ll follow the same process as soon as it gets warm again next spring.