A Cheeky Cat

Sometimes the story of how animals come into our lives are just as interesting as the animals themselves. The story of how our cat Goose came into our lives is not as interesting as him, but the story is amazing…to say the least. Our paths crossed a couple of summers ago when I was working at my part time Summer job. I was trying to clean up the large fenced in area behind the shop and my last task was to mow the grass. I was mowing along when I had to come to a complete stop.

A fluffy gray kitten had made himself a small burrow under some tall bushes near the edge of the fence. He had scurried away and the fact that I had almost ran over him disturbed me. What disturbed me even more was the fact that he was all alone. Why was this beautiful kitten out here all alone? I finished my mowing and my best friend (he’s the owner of the business) and myself were talking behind my vehicle which was parked in front of the building. I explained to him what happened and since he lives adjacently to the building; I asked if he had seen any stray cats around. It was about that time that I heard a faint meow coming from the distance. He laughingly says, ‘he must have heard you talking about him’. I walked to the edge of the building and starting calling ‘kitty, kitty’. The meowing started to get louder and then all of a sudden we see this little gray kitten; running towards us as fast as he can. He ran right up to me and scaled my leg and crawled into my arms. My friend and I quite literally couldn’t believe what had just happened.

He rode home with me, still cradled in my arms. By the time I got home, he was fast asleep. My wife and Daniel came outside to greet me and our new friend. We named him Goose, because we figured that since he was gray…why not name him after Gray Goose Vodka? Even though we don’t drink, we already had a cat named Whiskey because you guessed it, he was the color of whiskey. Goose grew up to be the sweetest cat that we have ever had. He would crawl into our arms and let us rub his belly. He would meow loudly and run up to us when we got home. Sadly our sweet Goose was killed last year. Since his death, we have thought a lot about how the purring of some cheeky little cat can impact your life. How soothing that the soft fur of a loving kitten can be as it brushes up against your ankles. Or just knowing how unconditionally you are loved by this animal that trusts that you will protect them and bring them food. All dogs may not go to Heaven while all cats may not live in Purgatory…but what I do know is that the animals that elegantly impact our lives, do forever live in our hearts.

This picture of Goose is my favorite. Since he constantly wanted our attention and wanted us to love on him at all times; he just took it upon himself to ascend to the top of a ladder that we had outside doing spring cleaning so he could be in arms length of us. The moment was so funny and was so indicative of the loving cat that had come into our lives. I miss him but the beauty of pictures is that it brings us back to the good times that we captured via that photograph.