Death

Madiba is in a critical condition in hospital.  It’s all over the news. Its all people talk about. And if you work with anything related to media – you’ll know people have been preparing for his death.

It’s a horrible thought to prepare for someone to die.  It’s death: it breaks, it screams, it hurts.  It’s horrible. 

You hope when you’re young that it will happen when you are old and wise.  Older - yes. Wise – not so sure.  Three of our cats passed away in the past year. 

The first, a ginger that my mom found in a little pet shop when I was in high school – he screamed really loud and she brought him for next to nothing.  The cat needed loads of love, hugs, assurance and loads of food. But he flourished into a fluffy animal, always by your side.

The second, Skapie, as I called her – she reminded me of a sheep dog, thus the nickname.  Given to us by a colleague of my mother, she was a lady.  A little cat, with a big heart and very much human.  She greeted me when I called her name and came running.  She washed herself several times a day and would find the closest human hand or cat body to wash as well. She slept on my bed and would sit upright every night when I woke up in a panic because of a nightmare. 

Both of them passed away within a couple of weeks from another. I tend to think Skapie died of a broken heart, she couldn’t be alone.

Klein kat, a tiny tiny kitten my mom found in a pet shop was run over by a car about two months after we got him.  This little one, found its human in my mom and brought her all the leaves that autumn had to offer into the house… Needless to say, quite annoying cleaning all the leaves but definitely worth seeing this little body struggle through the open window with a leave twice his size.

I’m not sure that any of us knows how to deal with all the shit that finds us, but little things make it better. Our friends, looking a full moon, red wine, chocolate… TV series, if you’re me. And our pets – they make us believe in life again.  They teach us about love.  

They teach us that the world looks a little better after a long nap.