Farewell Ternurita

13/04/14

The best companion that ever existed died today.  My beloved Michigan was sixteen years old, and she was always a source of joy and brightness to me, to my sister Gina, to my parents, and to a lot of the people who got to know her.  She was kind and loyal and extremely smart.  She was also as cute as a cat can ever be, and my nickname for her was “Ternurita” (Cuteness).  She was the perfect mix of pet and familiar.  She was always there for me, even the years I was away.  Every time I’d Skype with my parents she would sit with them (or on them, or sometimes actually IN their place, making them have to find a new place to sit).  She provided me with a lot of qualities that I am proud to have acquired: the happy admission that I am different and that I had to follow my own path, the strength necessary to get out of certain black situations, the inspiration to write from my heart and the purity of a real smile and laughter, in health and sickness, always grateful for my blessings…

 Michigan was a pure soul, there is no doubt about it.  Everyone who looked at her or at her pictures would react with an aww or an ooo, even if they didn’t like cats… even they could see the sweetness in her and the amazing gifts she brought to my home.




Her sister Alanis is second to none, and I dearly hope that it will take a long, long time for me to return here to write about her.


 They came to me when they were but two months old, also during Spring Break.  I said that she was with me even while I was away; that is true: I connected with her on a frequent basis, sending her and her sister all my love and gratitude.   They answered me in dreams. 

 Michigan slept with me most of the time, and even while away I could feel her on my hip, or at the bend of my knee, or even over my chest.  She could always tell when I needed her, and she would never let me cry alone.  But she also accompanied me when I laughed, and would very often laugh with me, especially if I used string or a bag or paper that I gave her to tear apart.

  

She was adventurous, getting in trouble every once in a while (like when she actually broke her toe) and finding ways to look at the world from different perspectives. 

Even the day before she got so sick she had one last little adventure: she climbed down the porch roof using her old path, thru her kitty door in my wall, down the board, over the porch and down the wall using the shelves we had put up just for her and Alanis (Alanis has never used those boards; she preferred jumping onto the bathroom window or even climbing up the concrete door frame… she has not done that in a while); Michigan woke us up that Saturday very early, mewling so that we would open the kitchen door for her at 7 am...!  That day and the next one she went and lied down on the grass between the trees…  I think she was telling us she was ready to go.  Even at that moment we hoped she would get better, but as Monday came and the vets received her, she was no longer there.  Still, she allowed us to try one last medicine, and for that I will be forever grateful; because a cat is the wisest of creatures and they often know and they always decide when to go, but still she let us try.  I think she knew that otherwise we would always have the doubt of whether there was something we could have done.

 

My sister wrote the following on our family’s WhatsApp group:

Buenas noches familia… les comparto que hoy la familia Tena-González estamos de luto. El día de hoy se nos fue Michigan, nuestra gatita que compartió sus más de 16 años de vida con nosotros, siempre tierna y cariñosa, fiel compañera de mi Papá al ver el futbol.

Después de unas semanas difíciles, por fin está en paz.  Dejó atrás a su hermana Alanis, un espacio vacío en la almohada de Sandra, un hueco bajo las cobijas de mi cama, y un pequeño espacio entre el sillón y la mano de mi Papá… se le va a extrañar…

(Good evening family… I will share that the Tena-González family are in mourning tonight.  Michigan was taken away from us today, our little cat who shared her more than sixteen years with us, always tender and caring, faithful companion of my Dad while watching soccer.

 

After a couple of difficult weeks, she’s finally at peace.  She leaves behind her sister Alanis, a void among Sandra’s pillows, a hollow nook under my blankets, and an empty space between the sofa and my Dad’s hand…  she will be missed…)

 

I am forever grateful for these words, so soft and true that even now, five days later, make me cry and shake with longing.  This is the way I want my Michigan remembered, as the softest and truest cat of all, magical and amazing and bringer of light joy…

 

 

She was a cat who was recalled as “the famous Michigan” by people who visited us randomly, and most would be amazed to see a cat being so social… she loved being among people.  She understood our conversations and would even sometimes share her own thoughts on a subject.  I would have long conversations with her and Alanis, and they would often help me during my readings and rituals.  (The purple cloth is my rune-reading mat, btw, in case you’re wondering.)

They liked when I read to them, especially anything Fantasy, particularly the Elven scenes in The Lord of the Rings and the funny bits of Harry Potter, but also Borges and Gabo (RIP, my far-away Mentor, and I hope you find each other one of these days and make each other laugh), and even a little bit my of own work… and I confess that I feel guilty that I did not do that during these last couple of months since being back…  I promise I will read to Alanis, though, when I return next week…

 

 

 

She also loved Enigma and Sara Brightman just as much as I did, and actually she liked most of the music I played (they both do); I even dedicated to her a Celine Dion song, one of the voices that soothed her the most, and the song is Fly.  However, they also changed my taste regarding a few certain groups that I won’t mention cos I don’t want to hurt sensibilities, but I will say that were a bit raucous…  Still cracks me up…! 

She was also always, always wanting to travel with me, and would often lay on my suitcase while I packed…  Alanis did as well, and it was (and hope it will still be for a long time) a nuisance to have to take out the cat hairs before I closed my bags!  I love them both for it!

 

She was also quick as a dart, taking all kinds of food from us, mostly from the table, but even at times almost from my mouth (she would literally jump up to my lap and put her nose to my mouth when I ate cookies…  I would have to push her away with my elbows to keep her from licking me, and even though she –luckly- never succeeded, I often had to give up a piece of cookie to settle her back on the couch).  And just as with this yogurt, she would leap onto our pasta, chicken, shrimp, turkey breast slices (which she used to gladly eat on the floor anyway), and even once she dug a hole on my sandwich to get to my avocado…

So she gives us the parting gift of amazing memories and laughter that will heal the hurt of longing…  and also the desire to remain tender forever, because such a trait has to be kept, forever and ever and with everyone…

  

And even in the end she sends me a shower of light and blessings, a smile as I finish writing this and see the pictures, and a feeling of gratitude that has blossomed in my heart for her, for Alanis, and for every single blessing that my life has been glad to receive.

Thank you my darling!  You will forever be my Ternurita…

Farewell and we’ll meet sometime again…