Zeal

1999 - 2016

Tribute to Zeal

It was September 1999, when you came home with me.
You were a gift from my Mom.
I soon discovered that you were no ordinary cat.
You followed me around the house observing everything I did.

I thought it would be great if you were an inside cat,
however you had other ideas.
The moment I let you outside you ran back and forth
across the back yard in the pouring rain for hours.
It became clear that you were meant to be free to do
the things that you were meant to do.
You had your escape route planned and practiced it regularly
in the event that you needed to make a quick get away.

You had quite a few encounters with the local wild life, like baby skunks.
Which I am pleased to say you had enough brains
to back away from those critters.
You launched yourself off the fence
to go after a coyote…….what were you thinking!
Seeing you sitting on the fence beside a racoon,
and you reaching over to give it a pat on the behind
as if it was your best friend…..again, what were you thinking!
I’ll never forget the close encounter with the
local bobcat, 2 feet away…..was just a little too close.

You brought me many gifts over the years and had me scrambling to catch them.
That must have been entertaining for you.
The most memorable were the frogs you pilfered from our neighbours
pond and dropped it at my feet in the kitchen.
when I went outside to release it there was another at the door for me……
clearly it was a busy morning for you.

Even the snow didn’t discourage you from going outside,
with snow matted to your fur you just napped on my chair to melt.
There were many days I unknowingly sat in that wet chair.

You loved the walks we had on the trails in the forest.
It was funny when people would ask,
are you taking your cat for a walk?

When I brought Ray home, he sat on the couch,
you jumped on the couch and marched right up to him,
planting your paws on his leg,
swung your head up and looked him in the eyes.
As if you were saying…….She’s mine!

You brought me your toys to play with,
I just wish it was during the day and not the middle of the night.

You greeted me at the door every day when I came home,
meowing as if you had some great story to tell.
But I think what you were really saying was
“Come on, let’s go outside!”
And that’s what we did, even in the rain.

I began to wonder who was the boss around here,
you told me when to clean your litter box
and telling me to go to bed….really!
You enforced an open door policy,
so there was no such thing as privacy when using the bathroom.
For some strange reason you always wanted your
morning cuddles in the bathroom.
As long as I did what you wanted
everything was good with the world.

However your very favourite thing was to be outside with me.
You kept me company, you followed me like a puppy.
You kept me safe by keeping guard and watching
for anything lurking in the forest.
You took it upon yourself to make it your job to protect me.
But mistaking the neighbour as some kind of forest creature……
we needed a little intervention on those occasions.

Your job is done my friend.
Rest easy now, I will take it from here.

August 15, 1999 ~ October 6, 2016