{"id":16095,"date":"2013-06-05T00:11:23","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T04:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.synchrosecrets.com\/synchrosecrets\/?p=16095"},"modified":"2013-07-13T23:46:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-14T03:46:58","slug":"rip-tigerlily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themysticalunderground.com\/?p=16095","title":{"rendered":"RIP, Tigerlily"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1997, I headed to Miami for the weekend so that my friend Phyllis Vega and I could work on our book Power Tarot<\/em>. Megan, who was eight at the time, went with me, and the plan was that she would play with Phyllis\u2019s granddaughter, Jessie, who was the same age, while Phyllis and I worked. That part of the equation worked well. The part that was unpredictable was that Megan and I stopped at a pet store.<\/p>\n

This is a dangerous thing to do when you\u2019re the sort of people who are taken in by puppy breath, by kitties who want play. Megan and I walked out of that store with a five-week-old tiger kitten, her gray and silver fur\u00a0 <\/span>as fine and distinctive as silk. Tiger gave Megan and Jessie plenty of focus on that weekend.<\/p>\n

For the longest time, Tigerlily ruled the roost. She occupied the foot of our bed, was my dad\u2019s faithful daytime companion when he lived with us. Then we moved and boarded her and our two other cats at the vet during the chaotic move twenty miles or so northwest of where we\u2019d been living for 12 years.<\/p>\n

For the last thirteen years, Tiger lived here in our home with the lush backyard,\u00a0 <\/span>chasing lizards, snoozing in patches of sunlight during the winter, and always eating whatever we gave her. She liked Megan\u2019s coffee yogurt, bits of broccoli, tuna in any form, cheese, salad dressing, popcorn. She was our feline vacuum cleaner.<\/p>\n

During the 11 years we had our golden retriever, Jessie, Tiger was friendly \u2013 but never chummy. The day we adopted Noah, Tiger ran outside and stayed out in the backyard for two days until she determined that Noah wasn\u2019t going to hurt or chase her. Noah couldn\u2019t care less about chasing cats. Cats are part of his landscape, his world, as intrinsic to his life as the dog park and treats.<\/p>\n

Tiger gradually warmed up to Noah to the point where the two of them would share a couch, a lick, a nudge. As Tiger ailed for the last several weeks- she was nearly 17 – Noah was attentive, \u00a0<\/span>solicitous. They even sat on the couch together. He knew, as did we, that she was dying. But I thought that as long as she was eating and drinking and didn\u2019t seem to be in pain, I would let nature take its course.<\/p>\n

But it eventually got to the point \u00a0<\/span>where I no longer knew what to feed her because she had trouble eating everything. She tried, but she couldn\u2019t chew and then she would start choking.<\/p>\n

This morning, I gave her some cheerios in milk, mixed in well-squashed sardines and she ate what she could. When I went out into the kitchen, she was foraging in the cabinet where the cat food is kept and glanced around at me. She emitted a soft, pathetic meow and I realized she was starving to death. A bib of milk and food covered her snout and chest \u00a0<\/span>and she suddenly reminded me of my dad in his final days, when the mere act of lifting a fork to his mouth was nearly impossible. I knew it was time.<\/p>\n

I was visibly upset when I walked into the vet\u2019s office. On the sign in sheet, I entered the reason for the visit: needs to be put to sleep<\/em>.\u00a0 <\/span>The clerk, a woman who has worked for Ira- the vet \u2013 ever since we started going to him years ago \u2013 came over with a box of Kleenex. \u201cListen,\u201d she said quietly. \u201cA friend of mine had a near-death experience several years ago. When she returned, she was psychic, she sees spirits \u2013 of humans and animals. Tigerlily will be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then she told me that the other day, she\u2019d found an injured kitten \u2013 part of one rear leg had been torn off, possibly by a hawk, and the other leg was broken. She rushed it to the office and they were able to save it. \u201cWe lose one, we save another.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the examining room, Ira\u2019s son, who\u2019s in his early twenties and is studying to be a vet, explained that Tiger would be sedated first, then put to sleep. \u201cI took a double take when I saw her name,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the other day one of our employees rushed in with this wounded kitten. We fixed her one broken leg, but had to amputate the other to save her. She\u2019s doing fine now. I named her Tigerlily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stunned at the synchronicity, at the strange comfort it provided, I just looked at him, then managed to stammer, \u201cWow. That\u2019s an uplifting coincidence. Thank you for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHey,\u201d he said softly, passing me the box of Kleenex. \u201cThey come into life and they leave life. You\u2019re doing the right thing. Seventeen is a long life for a cat.\u201d<\/p>\n

I stayed with her for the sedation and the final shot, petting her, whispering to her, reassuring her that Jessie, Whiskers, and even Kali the bird would be there to greet her. And that she would be back.<\/p>\n

We buried her under a grapefruit tree in our backyard. Rob put a large sidewalk tile over the grave so it won\u2019t be dug up by dogs or other predators, and now I\u2019d like to find some pretty flowers to put around it.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Tiger, for being my companion for so many years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1997, I headed to Miami for the weekend so that my friend Phyllis Vega and I could work on our book Power Tarot. 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