8d • 🐾Companions
The Gurl
I went to the tulip festival this past weekend with a friend, and the daffodils were still in bloom.
The smell reminded me of the Jasmine that grew in my backyard in Texas, and the feelings came rushing back about my cat, The Gurl.
Gurl came to me through C.L.A.W.S., a feral cat rescue I founded and ran for several years in Montana. She was a peach-faced gray tortoise shell beauty with the confidence of a regal princess. She knew what she liked and she had no qualms living life to the fullest. She loved playing with toys day and night and filled up the food dish with them on a regular basis. She patrolled her backyard like a guard cat, and somehow always had a pet frog. We even had matching furniture so we could sit on the back patio together.
A few days before she passed, the look in her eyes told me she was ready. I was devastated, but I had asked her to choose her time because two years earlier, I had to make that decision for her brother and sister, and I didn’t think my heart could do that again.
She had to choose. And she did. On June 6, 2015, she chose a spot under the jasmine vine in her favorite place to be, her backyard. It was both painfully heartbreaking, and yet a strange kind of relief, knowing she went on her own terms.
The next morning, I felt numb and alone. It was just me now, and I was lost in the pain of it all. I can still hear myself asking the question, "Gurl, how am I going to make it without you?" And then I cried... a lot.
I pulled myself out of bed and went into the kitchen. I had a clear view into the backyard through the big windows on the French doors, and I could see a balloon resting in the jasmine vines. I lived off a main road in a mostly industrial area. There were no houses directly around my condo building, so it struck me as odd.
When I went outside to get the balloon, I saw that it had writing on it, and my mouth dropped as I read it: "My how time flies. I cannot believe it is graduation time already. Always follow your heart and dreams and shoot for the stars."
I knew in my heart of hearts, this was The Gurl's message to me.
I keep that balloon, now completely deflated, by her ashes as a reminder of what a perfect soul The Gurl was. And when I see those words, or smell jasmine, it always makes my heart smile.
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The Gurl
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