Year: 2021

Charlie and Bella were sisters but hadn’t really gotten along the past five years or so. They’d hiss at each other in passing and generally avoid one another.

Charlie had been our downstairs kitty—at every house. She rarely came upstairs and pretty much lived her life on the main floor. She had a special wet food diet (that her sister benefited from) but wouldn’t really cry for food until Tom set foot in the kitchen at whatever god early time he woke up (could be 4a, could be 6a). She did have a random caterwaul that could happen any time, but mostly at bedtime—we assumed it was because she was lonely or going senile.

Bella was our quiet upstairs MBR kitty. She didn’t seem to like people much so pretty much lived/hid in our bedroom—though she did go downstairs to eat and use the litter. She slept with us every night and never cried for food.

Now that Charlie is gone…my how things have changed.

Bella is downstairs most of the time and rarely sleeps with us. She sleeps in random cat beds and sits on the back of the couch. But!—WHAAAT?!—she has started crying at any and all hours of the night. This morning she woke us up SCREAMING (we assumed for food) at 4:30 and kept it up until 5:45 when she came upstairs to scream at us, come visit us in bed for a minute, then leave. But then was quiet—so maybe she wasn’t hungry…but lonely? But she obviously knows where we are since she’s lived in our bedroom for years?!

We didn’t expect any of this and it’s been interesting to watch. So what I’m basically saying is cats are weird.

I’ve been procrastinating picking up Charlie’s ashes until the initial wave of grief had passed. It’s been three weeks. I thought I’d be okay.

Nope. Nopity nope.

I’ve never gotten pet ashes before and probably wouldn’t have this time except the kids wanted them.

What a crappy day.