september 2, 2020

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

This was one of the saddest days I’ve ever had. My ginger boy, Good King Leo, crossed the rainbow bridge. Two days ago his tumor became too large, encroaching into his mouth such that it was clearly inhumane to go on. You can see the external effects in the photos at the bottom of the post. The internal effects were way worse. Aunt Millie confirmed the timing was right and helped me say goodbye. Leo would have died months ago if it hadn’t been for her. She saved him more than once so that he lived 30 months – 2.5 years – after losing his eye to cancer. That’s a really long time in cat years, and I have Millie to thank for the extra time. God bless Millie Hardigree for her compassionate heart and big brain.

Leo and I were given some time alone, and like I do, I whipped out my cameras. Leo – who always, always, always loved me and my camera – obliged as best he could given that he knew something was coming. He was an incredibly smart, intuitive feline, and I would swear sometimes he was going to open his mouth and speak to me. In the end, he didn’t want to be anywhere but in my arms, and when I laid him on the table, he reached his paw out to me. I took it. It was similar to the day I first saw him at Woodford Humane Society, when I walked past his cage and he reached out to me and smiled. I know that sounds weird, but as sure as I’m sitting here, that cat smiled at me and he kept smiling at me, best he could anyway, to the end. 

I got Leo when Sandy Davis was still working at Woodford Humane. In fact, she’s the reason I went to Woodford looking for a rescue. Really, she’s the reason I have Leo. I guess it’s fitting they both left this earthly plane during this alternate-universe kind of year. They were both too good to be here. Boy, am I lucky to have known them both, and I was especially lucky to be able to provide the best life for Leo he could have. What a gift he was. Saying goodbye can break you wide open, but Leonard Cohen is right: that’s how the light gets in. I’d do it all again.

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