Goodbye Stu

On Tuesday we said goodbye to Stu, our pet cat. She was 15 years old and had been with Jeff since 1999. Tuesday night was the first night at home that we didn’t have any pet with us and it felt really sad and strange. It’s amazing how much you get used to seeing an animal lounging somewhere in the house or following you around (or trying to avoid Shay).

A few days ago, I explained to Shay that Stu was getting ready to go to Heaven. She said, “Stu go to Heaven with Azzy” and continued to repeat that over the past couple of days. This morning she woke up and the first words out of her mouth were, "Stu's in Heaven."  She has only ever known having a pet around so we weren’t sure how she was going to react. She cried once but that was pretty much it and she doesn’t appear to be too sad. I don’t think she really understands at 2, almost 3, years old. Or perhaps I have that completely wrong and her young, child’s heart has a better grasp of Heaven than my 30 year old mind can comprehend.

Neither Jeff nor I expected that Stu would pass just 6 months after we lost Aslan. We figured she’d be around forever seeing as how she survived being mauled by 5 dogs and lived through a bad spider bite. It was her time though and we’re glad that she was able to spend her last days at home with us where she was comfortable. We will miss her funny, quirky personality, her loud purrs when she was being petted or brushed and the way she’d chase Jeff around grabbing at his ankles when she was feeling particularly frisky.

After much discussion, Jeff and I decided that we do want Shay to grow up with a pet. Since we’re awaiting adoption of a baby, we wanted to go with a lower maintenance pet so we will get her a kitten, not a puppy. While it in no way will replace Stu in our hearts, we hope that a kitten will provide a little buddy for Shay that can grow up with her and hopefully be around most, if not all, of her childhood.