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?