Sweet Blondie (she said goodbye)

Found on Twin Lakea beach in Santa Cruz, CA

I lived up in the Mountains, and I already had a cat and pet sitting service!  Pookie and my landlords” cat, Mario, hung out with us…  One day I was parking in a lot in King’s Plaza on 41st Ave. I saw a big orange-calico cat mewling her head off in fear and confusion.  She looked pregnant. Maybe that’s why someone left her on an island in the parking lot.  I approached her, she was friendly with me. I checked with stores and places in the plaza, and nobody claimed her or knew anything about her.  Going back out to the parking lot, she was still there waiting for me.  A few minutes later she was on her way home with me!  Later the vet told me she wasn’t pregnant.  But she weighed 16 lbs.  My other cat, Pookie, didn’t want to share the bed with Mario or Blondie, as I called her.  Blondie Boo………or Boo for short.

She did really well with me and the other cats.  Pookie was taken by coyotes, which broke my heart.  But I just fell in love with Blondie. The day Pookie was taken she left a dead mouse for me on my step. She knew how upset I was because before that she never hunted.  Now she would wait for me in bed to go to sleep, and I could cuddle her on my side with both arms around her.   Most cats would not let you do that…   I would fall asleep with her gentle purring in my ear. It felt like a spiritual connection.  I knew she loved me.  After a few years, I moved to help my parents.  Like I’ve noticed before, moving is very hard on cats, they can become sick, depending on their particular weakness. Mario died and Blondie started to lose weight. I took her to the vet, and they said it looked like she was hit by something, maybe a car, but I believe she was kicked hard by a person who had broken into my old house.  I’ll never know for sure.  Apparently, now her stomach was impinging on her lungs and she couldn’t breathe properly. She lost weight (see image of photo (after weighing 16 lbs.) and finally took her last breath in my arms.  I loved her so much even though she was only with me for seven years. She was 9 when she died. I grieved for her badly.

A year or so later I was staying at a friend’s house for a month near Twin Lakes. Blondie kept coming up and I was upset all the time. The last day I was there I had, for the first time in that month, picked up a shell from the beach. I looked at it and I couldn’t believe the image of her – same colors and everything – on that shell (see image). I still weep for her – but I know that she had sent her love and said goodbye. I’ll always love you, Blondie Boo.