[PyrNet-L] Merry Christmas!

[Catherine Oldham <cmo@together.net>]

Lilly--How do we replace you, Sasha?

Sasha had come on a whim--getting my hair cut--a dog soon to be put down
by someone moving out of the country--next day arrival--I work on her,
she adjusts.  She becomes the “one”, the lady of the house.  And then
old age takes her.  After all our hard work, after all the loving nights
that she rested and forgot the old, hard life when she rode in pickups,
she had to go to “The Bridge.”  

She sent her legacy, her protégé, to restore my heart, but how?   How
could this rangy, ball of white sticking-out-everywhere hair capture my
love and cure my aching loss?

Well, it was pretty simple to Lilly.  You just don’t give a hoot!  You
just do everything that you want to do, go everywhere that you want to
go, chew everything that you want to chew, and, oh yes, pee everywhere
that you want to pee!  Cats!  They are my playthings, my squeaker toys,
my delight.  Watch them run!  Who would think that a fourteen year old
cat could run that fast, jump that high just to get away from me!  Wow! 
That’s cool!  Think I’ll try that again!  

Life was great.  She was a Pyr on the loose--growing, running (oh, yeah)
in a fenced yard, in the springtime in Vermont.  She had it all--life,
love, and plenty of meowing chew toys!

Lilly’s house mate, Tahki, the can’ardly,  however, still mourned the
loss of his not-quite-the-wife that he had envisioned, but his dear
friend, nevertheless,  Sasha.  While this manic springing fluff ball
bounded in and out of his bed, his food bowl, and his yard, he longed
for quieter times, times when he could sleep without his head being
unexpectedly trounced on by a springer toy with sharp puppy teeth.

His longing, however, did not stop him from charging after another
passion--the fatal activity of chasing cars.  Tahki escaped from his pen
twice.  Both times he was cut down by a passing truck.  The first time
cost over $1000 in orthopedic surgery bills.  The second time it cost
Tahki his life.

When I unrolled the blanket that had contained his body, and the bell
that he wore to tell me where he was rolled out onto the floor in front
of Lilly, her big black sad eyes told me that both of us  knew where he
was now.

Yes, Lil, this time he is not coming home.

Tahki went to “The Bridge” to be with his
not-so-perfect-but-he-loved-her-just-the-same-wife.  Tahki and Sasha
were together again..

And the stage was set for Lilly to welcome (well, maybe “welcome” is not
quite the word) a new friend.  Another Pyr?  Not yet.  This male (or is
it Mal?) was to be from a dark mystery...or maybe many mysteries...a
handsome prince perhaps...

Catherine