Tribute Post ~ July 2nd (Part One)

There was a love of my life before Peanut, and his name was Cloudy. He would have been 13 years old today (he was born on July 2nd 1996). But he was taken away from me far too soon, when he died of stomach cancer on May 19th 2008, just before his 12th Birthday last year. I got the cancer diagnosis over the phone when I was at my Grandparents' house in Upstate, NY for my cousin's wedding. The terrible news came on the morning of the wedding (that I was a bridesmaid in). We already knew he was very sick, and we tried many medications the weeks before we boarded him at the vet for the weekend. They were supposed to do an endoscopy on him while we were away, but they ended up just doing the sonogram because the cancer was so apparent, that there was no point in doing the other procedure. When we got back I had to make the difficult decision to put him to sleep. I was so devastated, that I couldn't be there for it (I literally couldn't get out of bed). My Mom had to go to the vet's office to sign the papers. It was the worst day of my life by far. Cloudy was such a wonderful cat. He was part Maine Coon, with the most gorgeous coat I'd ever seen. I got him when I was just a little girl, back on August 23rd 1996. He was just 7 and a half weeks old when we adopted him from Bide-A-Wee (in Wantaugh, Long Island-- this shelter is now closed sadly). He was such an adorable baby, just like Peanut. He loved us so much and he loved to help out around the house, follow us wherever we'd go. He'd wait by the door for me to come home from school. He was such a trooper through all the moving we did. From selling our house on Long Island in 2006, moving out to LA for 5 months, moving back to the city in 2007 and living in a hotel for 2 weeks(!), then finally moving into an apartment that we lived in for 2 years (before moving again after his death). He was a true friend and I felt as though he was my own son. So in his memory, today I want to share some pictures of him. This is very painful for me (and I'm crying writing all this), but he has not been forgotten. I will love him forever.

A close-up of my buddy. Same white mug and cute pink nose! :)

Cloudy stretched out on my bed in my old house.

Cloudy enjoying the plush pillow top mattresses at the Affinia 50 hotel. This is where we chose to stay back in January 2007 while were apartment hunting because they are a "pet friendly" hotel. The whole staff loved Cloudy!

Cloudy with the pumpkin cat that I made. (Halloween 2007)

I loved Cloudy's coloring so much, that I always said that I wanted my next cat to have the same white markings-- except to be orange and white. The other day I was comparing pictures of Cloudy as a baby to Peanut. It is amazing how much they look alike. While Peanut will never be able to replace Cloudy, I feel as though some of the pain has eased through having a cat in my life again. I cannot stress the importance of having pets in your life. I am biased yes, because I've rescued and taken care of animals my whole life. But from my experience, people who like animals are generally good people, while people who don't like animals aren't. To this day one of the only movies that makes me tear up is Homeward Bound. I encourage everyone who reads my blog to adopt a pet. One of the most wonderful relationships that has ever existed is between people and animals, and that much I'm sure of.

Unfortunately I don't have any baby pictures of Cloudy on my phone or computer (technology wasn't so amazing back then!). So instead I took a picture of my mouse pad that my Mom had made for me one Christmas. It's one of my favorite pictures of Cloudy as a baby. Notice how he looks so much like Peanut, except gray and white instead.

You know, a couple weeks ago I was looking at some of Cloudy's baby pictures, and I told Peanut "You have some large shoes to fill." And he seemed to understand me.

I'll be updating with my daily eats (and whatever else is going on in my day) in part two, so please check back!