The Circle of Life and “Name My New Adopted Baby” Contest

A week ago my cat died.

It’s a long story that starts with a cat that seemed perfectly normal, and within two hours of the first indication he was not well, died.  So it was very sudden and shocking and it all happened after midnight so of course I was alone at the animal hospital having to make a decision to put my children’s favorite pet down and not holding it together too well.

And then blessedly, I was not alone.

I’ve recently made a new friend and we are still in the early stages of “friend dating”.  It’s that heady period where you are soaking in all the information you can about the other person and eager to actually tell your stories again so they will truly know you.  She calls it the “suburban housewife equivalent of a first date” (actually she calls it something a bit different but you’ll have to read the link to get the real scandal) and it is fun and exciting and a little “I hope she still likes me” pathetic on both sides.

So there we are on our second “chat date” when I say something like “My cat is sick,” and then added some non-family-friendly words.  Long story short, she stuck with me electronically through texting all the way up until decision time and my breakdown and then she got in her car and drove to the pet hospital at 2 AM so I wouldn’t have to be alone when I said goodbye.

And I’m so glad she came because it was really, really hard.  He was such a sweet kitty and I really loved that big, overweight, liver damaged, closeted alcoholic, precious lug of a cat.  I miss him a lot.  More than I thought I would.

I’m so sorry Kelso.

I was really nervous about telling the kids but after some initial sadness life moved on.  It was a good teachable moment that I think we handled really well and maybe they’ll want to talk about it again, and maybe they won’t.

But I remained sad and I wasn’t completely alone in my sadness.  Jasmine, our 16-year old cat (whom we always assumed would go first, being, like, 132 in cat years) was mourning.  Mourning in such a sad way that was both a bit overwhelming due to her extreme neediness and completely heartbreaking due to her nighttime laments.

I started figuring that this was going to be a classic case of when one spouse dies the other just gives up on living.  I didn’t want her to do that so I figured the best thing to do would be to get her another companion so she would have reason to go on.

We knew that this would do just the trick.

Who would not want to go on living with THIS to wake up to every morning?!

I am happy to report that it has totally worked.  Jasmine is so spitting mad that this… this…  abomination would DARE breathe the same air as her that I am totally convinced she has willed herself to live forever if just to outlast His Wretchedness.

I love animals.

We got Smelly McSmellypants at the Humane Society and he still needs a name.  Technically he does have a name but we’re not all on board with it.  So we’ve been on doggy naming websites and have rejected everything from Artexerxes (an early favorite with Mommy) to Zeus (Marc is into Greek mythology, thank you Percy Jackson) and we’re still not unanimous.

We’re trying to be democratic about the whole thing and vote but the first vote was split 2-2 and the second vote was 3-1 and democracy or not, it’s hard to tell your six-year old that she is the sole loser.

We’d like to be unanimous.  Can you help name our dog?  If I have enough comments and we decide to take one of your suggestions, there may be a prize.

Okay… if I take your suggestion there will totally be a prize!  The winner will not only get huge bragging rights (now THERE’S incentive!) but their choice of either a $20 Petco gift card or if you don’t have reason to shop at Petco, I will substitute a $20 Amazon gift card.

So… pass this along to your friends and please help me name my dog!  If you don’t, a six-year old cancer survivor may cry.

(I totally just played the “cancer card”.)