A TRIBUTE TO "JJ"

One day in April, 1987, I was watching a little gray kitty I had been feeding, coming across the yard with something in her mouth. A bird, a rodent perhaps, no a tiny kitten. She deposits her precious baby under my porch and stays there the rest of the day. Day two, here comes momma kitty with another tiny kitten in her mouth. Well, I say, so you have 2 babies. This continues until the fifth day, as she carries another kitten over and puts it under my porch. I go outside and say to her, "Well, that's five, is that it?" Guess she figured if she brought them all at once to me, I would panic.

Two of these babies would eventually become Jonathan and J.J. I trapped the kittens on my porch, of course, mama kitty could come and go at will, so I could treat J.J.'s eyes. He had a terrible case of conjunctivitis. Poor baby would wake up from a nap and spend 1/2 an hour licking his paw and wiping his eyes to get them open. Then, one day I came home and all the kittens were gone. Escape artists they had become! I had to move the family into my laundry room as I needed to tame these ferals kids. I spent several hours every evening for one month socializing these sweet babies. J.J. and Jonathan played with their siblings, but spent most of their time together. When they were 10 weeks old, it came time to find them homes. Everyone got a good home but, you know who. I wanted to keep the boys together, but no one wanted 2 kittens. So, I kept them for my very own babies.

J.J. passed over the Rainbow Bridge on Aug. 11, 1996. I could feel my heart break when he died. I buried him right outside my bathroom window. I put a giant pinwheel there as well as flowers and other assorted balloons. When the wind blows, I can hear the pinwheel spinning and it's like he's talking to me.

IN MEMORY OF J.J......

Farewell, Master, yet not farewell,
Where I go, ye too shall dwell.
I am gone, before your face,
A moments time, a little space.
When ye come where I have stepped,
Ye will wonder why ye wept.

AND

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am a diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you wake in the morning hush;
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there; I did not die.