Farewell, Bailey

[fivecats]

Maggie Sitting
April 2006 Raleigh, NC
____________________________________

Maggie, The Cat Who Isn't Afraid of Anything, was the only one of the five cats who was with us when we buried our dog, Bjorn. When the other cats would either make overly dramatic gestures to avoid Bjorn (whom they refered to as "Monster Mouth") Maggie was completely unconcerned. She would walk close by him and, occasionally, even hang out with him. It was fitting that she was with us when we said our final, formal goodbyes to him.

Saturday, while basefinder was visiting, Maggie went down to Bjorn's gravesite at the bottom of the yard, and just sat there for a while. Bonn says she does this about once a week or so, but this was the first I'd heard or seen of it. It was a sweet, gentle gesture that is so like Maggie.

I bring all of this up because ruralrob's entry today told of how Bailey, one of his dear, loving dogs, ended his long fight with cancer over the weekend. Bailey, as I had thought, told them when it was time, and Rob and Meirion responded well and quickly, ensuring that Bailey wasn't in pain for long and that they were there with him at the end.

I'm hoping that Bailey and Bjorn are running around together, each free from the pain and problems that aging brought to them. I think they'd both be chasing after the same balls, if Bjorn could only find all of the tennis balls that he'd had thrown his way.

And, that maybe that's what Bjorn and Maggie were talking about on Saturday afternoon.

...