Steve the Pirate passed away suddenly last week. My heart has been very heavy. He was my first pet and a part of my life for the past 13 years.
I adopted him as a little kitten. I was told he had been abandoned by his mother and was found with a bad eye infection. He was taken to a vet but they were unable to save his eye. A friend had been trying to get me to adopt a kitten for a while but I hadn’t been able to find the right one. Steve was the right cat for sure, I knew instantly when I met him. So friendly, playful, and talkative with a mischievous streak. A pirate indeed.
Every day when I came home and opened the door Steve would run to great me and meow to say hello. Have you ever known a cat to respond when you say “hello?” Steve would every time without fail. He hung out with me all the time. He would lay down on my desk, right next to the comfy cat bed.
I eventually did find a cat bed he would use. Naturally it had to be a pirate cat bed.
We had conversations all the time and he loved to call to the birds outside. He preferred to be in the same room with you. Are you walking away? That was the best time to attack your legs. Once victory was his he would nap on his spoils.
We would play all the time. He wasn’t much of a pouncer or a jumper, the lack of depth perception and all. He loved to wrestle. His favorite toy was the ring off a milk jug. To hell with your fancy and expensive toys.
I did find him a cat structure shaped like a pirate ship. He loved to collect all his booty into the ship. Then roll around inside with his booty like Scrooge McDuck in his vault.
I keep walking through the house expecting him to jump out at me. For him to greet me when I come home. The house will no longer be full of his hair tumbleweeds. His hair will no longer cover my clothes all the time. I’ll never hear him chirp at the birds or go barrelling through the house. No more cuddles or purrs. My big fluffy pirate is gone.
Yeargh! I miss him so much and I am so very sad right now.
