Sammy's obituary ~ on Caturday

Sammy began life as an abandoned kitten, not yet weaned.  One of Donna's co-workers found her on the parking lot where they worked, and Donna was the one willing to take her home and care for her.  Sammy was afraid of bare feet, making me think she must have been kicked by someone's bare feet before that someone tossed her out on a parking lot.  Donna had to feed her with an eye-dropper and eventually teach her how to eat food.

One highlight of her life was the bird in St. Louis who would come "talk" to Sammy through the screen in the open window.  Sammy made her own special sounds to the bird.  When she and Donna moved to Chattanooga, Sammy met Kiki, but the two were never close friends.  They did learn from each other, though.  Kiki learned to "drink" from a tall glass, after Sammy would sample Donna's water that way.  Before long, the cats had their own "red glass" to drink from (see the photo above).  And Sammy learned from Kiki.  Donna wrote, "She taught Sammy how to love to the best of Sammy's ability.  Sammy has lost much of her feral nature because of watching you and Kiki's so very special relationship."

On her birthday a few days before she died, I gave Sammy a new food dish.  At 19 years old, Sammy was in pain from arthritis in her spine and possibly her kidneys shutting down.  The mobile vet and her assistant came to the house on Thursday, May 28, 2014.  I was stroking Sammy when she died, telling her how much I loved her.

A few hours later, I lowered the blinds, which Donna and I had left permanently open at the bottom for Sammy and Kiki to be able to look out of their house-bound world.  They could see our patio, grass, flowers or rain or snow, people walking by on the sidewalk.  In other words, they could see the "beyond" outside those window panes.  This photo shows Sammy staring out toward where Kiki had gone, making me think she was looking for Kiki to return.  Sammy, too, is now on the other side of those windows.  And the blinds have been lowered.  Rest in peace, Sammy.