Dirty Frostbitten Stray That Turned Into A Prince Options

[sher_mark]

In the summer of 1999 I spotted a dirty, frost bitten and hungry cat by some garbage cans. I went closer to see him but he ran under a truck and looked up at me. He was wild and nobody's cat. He looked like he was barely surviving and would never make it another winter. I put out a bit of food for him and he started coming every day for a meal. At first I couldn't get close to him. I would sit at a distance as he ate and he watched me out of the corner of his eye. After about two weeks he let me get close enough to give him a rub around his ears. That was that. Rusty a long haired orange cat came inside to live 13 happy years with us (my husband Mark, my other kitty Siegel and later our son Ben). He turned out to be a prince, my prince. He was gentle and loving and was always at my side like a shadow. You'd never have guessed to see him that first day but he turned out to be a gorgeous cat with a flowing orange and white coat (he was voted Mr March in a Humane Society Calendar contest years ago). And he was so loving and gentle with a roaring purr. He'd lift up for me to pick him up and he'd put his paws around my neck and his head on my shoulder and stay like that until I let go, never him.

My love died May 26, 2012. He was with me 13 years but the vet estimated he lived outside for maybe two years so he was 15. He was struggling the last year or so and we'll never know exactly why he died (blood tests showed he had a number of things going on) but the morning of May 26 he collapsed and I knew it was time. That morning he slowly followed me everywhere. After he collapsed he howled whenever I would leave him for a few minutes. He just wanted to die with me. After he had a seizure in his arms I took him to the vet. He died looking up at me with that same wonderful gaze that I first saw when he looked up at me from under the truck 13 years before.

I miss Rusty so much. I loved him move than words can ever express and I will always love him. It has been 8 weeks of searing heartache. Yesterday I heard "still" when I was talking to someone about it and all I could think was "always". I know I will be with him again some day but the physical separation is so difficult. We were inseparable Rusty and I. I've read posts on this site since May but only felt I could post my own story today. Others around try to help but unless you've loved and lost an animal as much as I did, you don't understand. Turns out my other kitty Siegel (around the same age) is starting to have kidney issues so I watch and wait with her now too. It is all difficult but I have hope in the love eternal.

Thanks for listening and I'm grateful there is a place that I can leave some cyber evidence that Rusty, a once a dirty frostbitten stray meant something to someone, he had a family and was dearly loved in this world for the prince he was. I'll always love you Rus- always.

[Gretta's Mom]

Oh Sher Mark

Rusty is one of those extra-special animals that carry a piece of someone's soul. And that person carries a part of his or her soul. Who can doubt that this is you and Rusty? These special animals search the universe over for the one and only person in the world who is carrying the missing "puzzle piece" of their soul. Not only that, these amazing beings deliberately place themselves in our paths so that we will find them. And we do. And the instant rush of love tells it all. After two years - TWO YEARS - Rusty found his "other-half", his soul-mate, the one who was carrying the missing piece of his soul and who was carrying the missing piece of his. You and Rusty are the rare beings who really are parts of a single being. No one who has not known this experience can imagine what it's like. Everyone loves their fur- feather- or fin-babies with all the love in their hearts and this love is returned in kind. But it is only once in a great while that someone's true soul-mate finds them - and I think most of them are guided to Lightning Strike.

Rusty's spirit has been alive since the beginning of time - as has yours - and they will be alive until the end of time. Love - true love - soul-mate love never diminishes, it only grows. Whoever created the universe chose to make animals' earthly lives much shorter than ours. So we know (but really don't believe) that when we give our hearts away we're signing on for one of the most difficult sufferings this side of the Perfect World. These spirit-animals come with missions as well as love. They come to teach us something, to make us better. My Gretta (the kindest chocolate lab who ever lived) definitely came to teach me the value of silent kindness, that kindness is in one's being, not in one's actions. Strangers would stop us while we were on walks and say what a kind dog Gretta was. The only way they could have know that was by her being, something that shone out of her. Oh, I'm trying to learn that lesson and making pathetically little progress.

Rusty came to give you many gifts: love, warmth, and a life lesson. Only you will figure out what it is. And Rusty will again be in the Perfect world from which he came, swishing his tail and miaowing like creazy, saying, "Yea for you, Mom. You got it."

Sher Mark, my heart goes out to you because you're just beginning an especially hard grief journey. In this journey, which someone has described as the roller coaster ride from Hades, there are no timetables, there are no shoulds, there is NEVER, EVER even a single thought that someone's grief journey is taking a long time or seems to be especially painful for them. That's because Lightning Strike is a family - a band of brothers and sisters joined in the common bond of having loved and been loved by an exceptional soul-animal. Alone we're weak - we sometimes think we cannot go on. But together, we are strong. We hold each other up. We support each other with a caring that only those who have gone through it can understand.

Thank you for sharing Rusty with us. We may not know much, but everyone here KNOWS and will NEVER FORGET the RUSTY LIVES!

In caring and peace,

Gretta's mom

[sher_mark]

Oh Sher Mark

Rusty is one of those extra-special animals that carry a piece of someone's soul. And that person carries a part of his or her soul. Who can doubt that this is you and Rusty? These special animals search the universe over for the one and only person in the world who is carrying the missing "puzzle piece" of their soul. Not only that, these amazing beings deliberately place themselves in our paths so that we will find them. And we do. And the instant rush of love tells it all. After two years - TWO YEARS - Rusty found his "other-half", his soul-mate, the one who was carrying the missing piece of his soul and who was carrying the missing piece of his. You and Rusty are the rare beings who really are parts of a single being. No one who has not known this experience can imagine what it's like. Everyone loves their fur- feather- or fin-babies with all the love in their hearts and this love is returned in kind. But it is only once in a great while that someone's true soul-mate finds them - and I think most of them are guided to Lightning Strike.

Rusty's spirit has been alive since the beginning of time - as has yours - and they will be alive until the end of time. Love - true love - soul-mate love never diminishes, it only grows. Whoever created the universe chose to make animals' earthly lives much shorter than ours. So we know (but really don't believe) that when we give our hearts away we're signing on for one of the most difficult sufferings this side of the Perfect World. These spirit-animals come with missions as well as love. They come to teach us something, to make us better. My Gretta (the kindest chocolate lab who ever lived) definitely came to teach me the value of silent kindness, that kindness is in one's being, not in one's actions. Strangers would stop us while we were on walks and say what a kind dog Gretta was. The only way they could have know that was by her being, something that shone out of her. Oh, I'm trying to learn that lesson and making pathetically little progress.

Rusty came to give you many gifts: love, warmth, and a life lesson. Only you will figure out what it is. And Rusty will again be in the Perfect world from which he came, swishing his tail and miaowing like creazy, saying, "Yea for you, Mom. You got it."

Sher Mark, my heart goes out to you because you're just beginning an especially hard grief journey. In this journey, which someone has described as the roller coaster ride from Hades, there are no timetables, there are no shoulds, there is NEVER, EVER even a single thought that someone's grief journey is taking a long time or seems to be especially painful for them. That's because Lightning Strike is a family - a band of brothers and sisters joined in the common bond of having loved and been loved by an exceptional soul-animal. Alone we're weak - we sometimes think we cannot go on. But together, we are strong. We hold each other up. We support each other with a caring that only those who have gone through it can understand.

Thank you for sharing Rusty with us. We may not know much, but everyone here KNOWS and will NEVER FORGET the RUSTY LIVES!

In caring and peace,

Gretta's mom

Dear Gretta's mom,

Thank you so much for your kind words of comfort. I have read them over a few times today. It means a great deal that you took the time to respond to my post.

I have often wondered if my meeting Rusty was part of a plan. The reason I was outside that day I saw him and started feeding him was because it was the year anniversary of my beloved Simon's death. Simon was an outdoor cat and died outside. I was outside thinking of him and it was through my sadness that I saw Rusty's white paws under the fence that looked just like Simon's. Simon used to sit right on top of the fence at the spot Rusty was walking and that is why I was looking over in that spot on that fateful day. I often wondered if Simon helped Rusty find his way to my heart. Interesting too was that my husband was away the few days when Simon died so I faced losing Simon alone. My husband was also away when I met Rusty and decided to make him part of my life. And though seldom are we not together, my husband was away the day Rusty died. Rusty and I faced the day together without my husband just like we started our journey. The hard days when my beloved cats died were for me to face and perhaps learn lessons as you say. I'll ponder that more but one thing that I have thought and regretted in the last few weeks is this: Over the years my life had gotten so busy with work that I never followed through with a plan for Rusty and I to be a visiting team in long term care facilities. Rusty was so gentle and giving he'd let others hold and pet him without reservation. Never a hiss, scratch or growl in 13 years. Rusty had the perfect demeanor for this kind of volunteer work and I knew it but we never got around to it. I need to learn from this. Life goes fast.