There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18:24b NKJVLet me tell you a bit about Mystery. I was still married at the time (2003) and living in a tiny community that seemed to be the recipient of unwanted cats from the nearest town. I was still letting my cats go outside at the time and kept a bowl of dry food on the deck. As a result, a lot of these "drop-offs", strays, ferals ended up at my house. And since I can't turn a cat away cold and hungry, I ended up either adopting them, finding them a home or taking them to the Humane Society in Edmonton. But this is just background to let you know that I'm not totally sure which cats we had at the time Mystery joined us. I know for sure that we had Midget, Tiger and Tinker.
A friend was visiting her daughter and grandson in another community. While there, she found a small, fluffy white kitten, with one gold eye and one blue eye, wandering on a busy road. She rescued him off the road and let him loose, assuming he would find his way safely home. But the next day, finding the little guy back on the same busy road, she decided that whoever owned him was not responsible enough to deserve him and kept him. Her grandson named him Mystery, since it was a mystery where he came from or to whom he belonged. At that time, however, she thought he was a she, and feeling that she couldn't afford the spaying, which is more expensive than neutering a male, she decided to gift the kitten to my husband once she got back home. I guess she figured that since Midget belonged to my daughter, and Tiger and Tinker to me, he needed a cat as well. But make no mistake - any cats that joined our household were "mine" anyway. Later on, we realized that underneath that "fluff" was male anatomy. Our friend said that if she realized he had been male, she would have kept him. But he was destined to be mine. He grew into a big boy, and I sometimes referred to him as my gentle giant. He had such a docile, friendly, loving personality. He was not aggressive at all and thought everyone should treat him with the same gentleness, innocence and curiosity that he treated them. With all of the many cats I had coming and going over the years, he was the one cat I could count on to treat them all kindly (except there was that one female cat that no one liked - she had to go to the Humane Society).
Well, seasons come and seasons go, and unfortunately, sometimes so do marriages. When I left (2006), I took 6 cats with me, and the house I was renting in the country (where else was I going to find a house that would allow my 6 cats?) already had a cat living there. So, I ended up with 7 cats, including Mystery. The house also came with its share of mice, so having 7 cats came in handy.
A couple of memories from my time in that house:
Mystery knew my vehicle and if he happened to be outside, he would run in front of it while I was pulling into the driveway and then wait for me. Fortunately, I knew to expect him, so was careful with my driving.
One summer night, sleeping with the windows open, I heard a pack of coyotes yipping right outside one of the windows. My brave Mystery, sharing the bed with me, growled in response.
A few more household moves before I was finally in a position to buy my own house. By this time (2009), only Midget, Tinker and Mystery shared my life.
Just a word about Tinker: she never liked any cat but Midget, even though Tiger had been her littermate and was an amazingly wonderful cat. And even though Mystery was the most good-natured cat you could ever ask for, she didn't like him either. So when we said goodbye to Midget in 2011, she was left without her buddy. Mystery would have stepped in, and sometimes tried to play with her, but she ended up acting like he was trying to kill her and would run under my chair to escape him. Both of them were "quilt inspectors".We said goodbye to Tinker in 2020.  |
| Very rare to have both Tinker and Mystery in the same picture |
And that left just Mystery and me. He became more demanding of my time and attention after Tinker was gone. Even though they never really had a bond, I think he still missed her.
Mystery was an awesome quilting cat. I put a chair beside my cutting table, so that he could jump up on the table and had a blanket for him on the corner of the table. Although her preferred to be right in the centre of whatever I was doing, whether it was cutting, binding, planning layouts, measuring for batting, quilting,or just the quilt approval process, he liked being with me, wherever I was in the house.
He always greeted me at the door when I got home. And then that stopped. I didn't realize it at the time, but that's probably when his hearing went, and he could no longer hear my arrival.
And then I stopped working because of my mental health. And he became my therapy cat, my contant companion, my best friend. He had developed severe arthritis and it was no longer easy for him to come and find me in the house. Nor could he detect where I was in the house with his no longer acute hearing. So he would sit in the entryway between the living room and the hallway to the bedrooms and bathroom, and yell. And I would come and sit on the living room sofa with him - he had long since stolen my place on the sofa and I only sat there when he wanted snuggle time. I would sit sideways with my legs stretched out on the sofa, so he had plenty of "lap" to snuggle on. I would usually cover my lap with a quilt so that his legs wouldn't get trapped between mine. Sometimes he only wanted my lap for a couple of minutes, sometimes half an hour or more. But I would stay there, watching TV, playing on my phone or reading a book if I had one handy. And petting him. And sometimes he would bite me. My gentle, docile cat had taken to biting me. Usually, it was just nibbling on my fingers, but sometimes he'd bite my arm, and sometimes it would hurt. I never did figure out why he started doing that. Maybe it was a response to his own pain. But I didn't mind his nibbling my fingers, as long as he didn't chomp too hard.
Mystery always hated being in his cat carrier, and I was hoping that he would just die peacefully in his sleep, so the final act of his life wouldn't be one he hated. But eventually, I knew that his health conditions had deteriorated to the point where I knew I couldn't let him suffer any longer. His final trip in the truck, I just allowed him to sit on the seat beside me, with one of my smallest quilts that we had often shared. He still didn't enjoy the trip, but he tolerated it much better not being in the carrier.
And, at 21 years of age, on November 18, 2024, Mystery was gone. I had to say goodbye to my best friend. We had spent so much time together over the last few years that we were very closely bonded, and my heart is broken. I still have a hard time sitting on his corner of the sofa. If I want to vacuum, I think twice because he hated the vacuum cleaner. I still sometimes think I see him out of the corner of my eye. I miss him so incredibly much
And so one day, when I was so beside myself with grief, I decided I had to do something. So I set aside all other projects, pulled out my stash of cat fabrics and made this quilt top. And it was healing. It took me a little longer to get around to quilting it. But I had the perfect backing fabric. I added this label. I chose the Copy Cat pantograph for the quilting design,and a fun variegated thread for the quilting, to represent all of the joy that my cats have brought me over the years. I decided that I didn't want this quilt folded up and hanging on a quilt rack or ladder. I wanted to be able to see the whole thing whenever I wanted. So I added a hanging sleeve and it's now hanging on the wall in my quilt studio.
A few statistics from my life with Mystery: I had him for longer than any other cat (Celina, my first cat, and Tinker were both 18).
My time with Mystery (21 years) lasted longer than my marriage (20 years).
This is the first time I've been catless in 30 years.
This is the first time I've lived totally alone (no other living beings, whether human, feline, canine, rodent, rabbit or bird) in 38 years (before I was married).
But I'm never totally alone, because Jesus promised, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5b NKJV. And He is with me to comfort me in my grief.
And He will be with you, if you just ask.
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