Goodbye, Sidney
Sidney enjoying the yard, late June 2009.
He showed up at a coworker's back
door on New Year's Day 1995, a half-grown kitten who
needed to get out of the Columbus, Ohio chill. The
kitty was charming, climbed up on her husband's back
while he worked in the garage, greeted the couple
with a high-pitched mew whenever they entered the
room. But they couldn't keep him, so my boyfriend and
I took the cat in, named him Sidney. We had a
six-month-old sheltie named Loudon and he and Sidney
quickly became buddies.
By January 1996, my boyfriend and I had gotten
married and purchased a Queen Anne-style house in a
downtown Columbus neighborhood. We'd taken in another
foundling kitten, Zoe. By mid-1998, we were living in
separate states, scheduled for divorce. I got the
cats, he kept the dog.
Yesterday afternoon, after a long illness and slow
decline, Sidney collapsed by the water bowl in the
kitchen. My husband, son and I rushed him to the vet
to be gently nudged into death. It was sad and it
still is sad and I don't think I can write much about
it.
We will miss our sweet kitten.
Sidney and Loudon, January 1995
Sidney looking at snow ... or at a ghostly cat?
January 1995.
Sidney stretch, 2001?