Mosaic Monday #98: The Maggie Tribute

Scene: Rescue Village, Chesterland, Ohio

Time: 2005

Setting: A family of four considers adopting kittens, but is overwhelmed with pity for a pair of cats that have been languishing at the shelter for over 6 months.  They wait in a small room for the cats to be brought in.

MOTHER: Won't it be nice to give these poor cats a home?

DAUGHTER: That gray cat is so pretty.

SON: Can we go look at the tarantulas?

FATHER: I just want a cat that will sit on my lap.

Members of staff cradled the cats as they entered the space, placing them both on the floor.  The gray cat (Josie) was skittish, even when the young girl sat on the floor.  The black and white cat?  Maggie promptly jumped on Father's lap and began to purr.  Within a half hour, the family was on the way home with two new members.  Little did they know the joy, laughter and companionship that lay ahead for the next 15 years, as Maggie purred and kneaded her way into all of their hearts.  This is her story, which ended this week on September 21.

Maggie quickly established herself as the dominant cat, not just with Josie, but with everyone in the house.  No lap was immune from her attentions.  Over time, her reputation as a lap cat became legendary among family and friends who were frequent visitors.  "If you don't want her to sit on you, don't sit down!"  became our constant refrain.  #1 Daughter captured Maggie's character well in her memorial FaceBook post:

Maggie was our lap cat, our climb-up-and-snuggle cat.  We always used to say "I have a cat", meaning someone needed to get something for us because we didn't want to move the cat off our lap.

One of my earliest memories of Maggie was her attempt at licking my long hair.  I think she thought I was a fellow cat that needed grooming?

Maggie loved soft blankets and couches and sun spots.  She was the older of our two cats and definitely thought she was queen bee (she was).  

Give our love to Josie.  I miss you already, Maggie Cat.  Hope there are plenty of comfy places to nap in heaven.

In the oddest of coincidences, Maggie died a year and one day after Josie (see Josie's post here).  Despite being two years older than Josie, Maggie persisted through weight loss and arthritic hips.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

In the early years, Maggie was, shall we say, well-proportioned.  Spousal Unit gave her the nickname "Bagpuss", a polite reference to her rotund form.  Looking back at the photos, it is shocking to see the stark difference in her size and the luxuriousness of her fur.  At the time we adopted her, she was 4 years old.

She was not an active, playful cat, and eventually the vet advised a weight-loss plan.  I remember moving the food dish and litter box from the main level laundry room to the basement; in a matter of months, navigating the stairs brought her to a more desirable weight.   Life was busy back then; I travelled often for work and Spousal Unit had his hands full with managing the house and two kids in school.  We also did not have cameras in our phones, always at our fingertips!  Most of the photos are from Christmas, when we could pause for breath.  For 2013 and 2014, I could not find any pictures of our dear cat.

For most of her time with us, Maggie definitely preferred the lap of Spousal Unit.  She would sit on anyone, but if his lap was free, off she went.  So, this is a rare picture with her on my lap in 2015.  Rare because I am not in motion, and rarer still that she is with me.  I love this picture.

In 2016, life began to change dramatically for the family.  #1 Daughter was already in college, and #1 Son made us empty nesters that fall.  We downsized and moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Troy, Ohio, an interim step before my planned retirement in 2017.  Neither of the cats liked to be in the car, least of all Maggie.  She might have run off if she had known that the four-hour drive was a drop in the bucket compared to the journey to come.  In the meantime, we celebrated one Christmas in Troy; this is the only photo I have of Maggie from that time frame.

On April 27, 2017, we began our epic journey from Ohio to Montana.  Spousal Unit had the parakeet in his car, and Maggie and Josie accompanied me in the 4Runner.  I can't tell you how many meows I heard over those nine days; all of us were relieved to get to the hotel each night.  

Without any furniture, we made do with camp chairs our first night in Whitefish, Montana.  It didn't matter to Maggie; she was going to seek comfort in that lap no matter what! We soon settled into new routines; #1 Son stayed with us that summer, and several family members came to visit the townhouse and see our log home under construction.  Maggie even played with some yarn I was using to make a prayer shawl.    Both of our children came for Christmas and we made sure to get a picture with all four 'kids'.  

The calendar spun to 2018, which proved to be a hectic year.  The log house was finished and we moved in on April 14.  We hosted my in-laws in the new house, and also traveled to the UK for three weeks.  Maggie took readily to her surroundings; sleeping in the sun spots alternated with sleeping on the air vents.  We could imagine that the warmth helped soothe her increasingly old bones; she turned 17 that year.  (As you can see in the mosaic below, Maggie would often extend one paw and put it possessively on one part of your body.  Little did she know she owned every part of us.  It was also after our arrival in Montana that Maggie and Josie started to share Spousal Unit's lap.)

With the arrival of 2019, Josie began to have health issues, and we started to keep a closer eye on both of the cats.  Maggie continued to monopolize the sun puddles and the air vents, and she was losing weight, but she kept on ticking.  With the loss of Josie in September that year, we wondered about the impact on Maggie.  After all, they had been together for at least 15 years.  Maggie seemed to pick up Josie's role as the vocal one.  Frequently, she would sit outside our bedroom door and meow, especially if she had decided we were late for breakfast.  It also seemed, after Josie, that Maggie became firmly attached to one spot on the left end of the couch.  Everyone knew that was Maggie's "spot".

Another endearing aspect of Maggie's character related to food.  It always seemed that she was afraid to eat unless we were in the vicinity.  Without fail, when we would return home from a morning in town or another excursion, she would greet us at the door and then immediately start eating.  Even now, five days after her passing, I am still looking for her when I come through that door!

Over the years, we have been very fortunate to have good friends and neighbors to look after the cats when we were traveling or camping or otherwise engaged.  You know who you are!  A special shout out to my Dear Neighbor Friend, who would take the time to sit with Maggie and give her that one-on-one attention that she craved so much.  This was especially important to me after we lost Josie.  Thank you, DNF.  I know you had a special place in her heart! 

And so we entered 2020.  Will any of us forget this year?  Maybe some of us would like to!!!  As one month passed to the next, Maggie got creakier and skinnier.  In parallel, she grew seemingly more desperate for attention.  Even in the middle of the day, she would circle my chair at the dining room table, rubbing my legs and meowing.  I would take pity on her and lift her up.

Maggie was not allowed in areas with carpet, so our master bedroom was off limits.  But at times my heart was breaking with her meowing, and we would lift her up onto the bed for an afternoon nap.  I am not sure when it happened, but at some point Maggie transitioned to a preference for my lap over that of Spousal Unit.  Maybe because I always sat in her "spot"?  I will never know, but I am grateful that we had the special time together.  I am sure that some of her fur is woven into the cross-stitch that I have been working the last few months!  It is also a blessing that the kids had a chance to say goodbye, in their own ways.  # 1 Daughter and the Boyfriend were here in August, and although we had no idea Maggie would pass so soon after their visit, a blind man could have told you that old age was taking its toll.

The weekend before Maggie died, she stopped eating.  She would hover over the food dish, and meow, but she didn't take a bite.  I imagined that she felt nauseous.  We got her into an emergency appointment on Monday afternoon, and #1 Son sat with her on his lap that morning; we all anticipated that we would have to make the tough decision.  As it turned out, the vet said Maggie was very constipated.  After some treatment, the vet said that we should take her home and let the treatment work its way overnight.  Relieved, I went home with a lighter heart.  We made Maggie comfortable and then went on a previously arranged kayaking/fishing trip for a few hours.

Upon our return, imagine our dismay to find Maggie hiding in the one of the benches with her litter box.  This was her go-to location when scared by something, such as thunder.   At first, I left her there, but after a while, I grew concerned.  When I picked her up, she was so limp.  It was the worst feeling in the world.  For the next couple of hours, Spousal Unit and I took turns cradling her.  Occasionally she would try to lift her head, and through a cascade of tears, we told her it was OK to let go.  #1 Son was with us when, resting on the chest of Spousal Unit, she finally gave a little sigh, and was gone.  

Fifteen years.  Four homes.  Two high school and two college graduations.  She was there through it all, and gave us untold moments of joy and laughter and companionship.  That is what we will remember.  At the end, she may have been deathly skinny, and her fur might have lost the luster of the early years, but she will always be a beauty in our hearts.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.

Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.

The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Tuesday (U.S. Mountain time). 

Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog. 

Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back. 

As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by. 

Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully. 

Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mosaic Monday #47: Celebrating Josie

January 2019

She was the five-pound cat that thought she was a Doberman.  She had gourmet tastes, leading to an obsession with brie and grilled salmon.  She abhorred being picked up, but she still wanted to be in the center of the action.  That was our Josie.  On September 20, we made the tough decision to have Josie put to sleep.  She may have been 16 years old, but she still looked like a kitten and she will always be that kitten in my heart.

In 2005, on a visit to Rescue Village in Chesterland, Ohio, we planned to adopt two kittens.  But, as we walked the rows of cages, we noticed two adult cats in a single cage.  The sign indicated they had been residents there for almost six months; the previous owner had found that her new dog and the cats did not get along, and she gave up the CATS!  We knew kittens would quickly find homes, and none of us could abide the thought of these two spending another day in that small space, so after a short visit with Josie and Maggie in a guest room, they joined our family.

2005 - Age 2 - Rescue Village estimated her age 

We enjoyed her antics (mostly) for fourteen years.  Both kids graduated from high school and one graduated from college.  We moved to Troy, Ohio and then to Montana, first in Whitefish and now in Kila.  Maggie and Josie have seen it all.  As Josie's health began to decline in the last 12 months, we prepared the kids and ourselves for the inevitable.  But it was still an emotional event for all of us, and even as I write this the tears are streaming.  I certainly could not bring myself to write this post last week.  On the day we lost Josie, #1 Daughter paid tribute to her on FaceBook with this post:  

November 2017 - in the "spa"

From the moment she stepped into our home, Josie was a grumpy oddball. She did not like to be picked up.  She did not want to sit on our lap for pets, but would sit on a kitchen chair and meow her face off 'til Mom stopped what she was doing to pet her.

Josie liked sunny spots on hardwood floors, ribbons as chew toys, holiday decorations and cardboard boxes as beds.

Josie liked to lay under the Christmas tree and collect pine needles in her fur.  We would be hard pressed to find a ribbon or bow at Christmas that didn't have little kitty teeth marks on it.  Looking back, I think it was her way of showing love.

Christmas 2011

July 21, 2017 - first time she ever sat

on a lap - it only took 12 years!

Josie was by no means a lap cat, but toward the end of her life, we could find her on my Dad's lap more and more.  I think she knew her time was coming to an end and Josie wanted us to have those final memories with her.

I miss you already, Josie Cat.  I hope there are plenty of catnip toys for you to play with and cardboard boxes for you to sleep in in heaven.

I can't promise to keep dry eyes for the rest of this post, but I am trying to focus on the memories, as our daughter said above.  As I gathered over 140 possible photos for this post, I found myself laughing out loud.  "Noodle", as I liked to call her when I was slightly exasperated, had the typical cat penchant to be where she shouldn't be.

On the bed, saying "Feed me" with those big eyes

If a kitchen cabinet door was open, she had to be through it, prompting Head Chef to grumble about "Fuzzhead".  If we found the downdraft running on the oven in the morning, you knew Josie the Mosie had been mosey-ing about the kitchen counters in the night.

#1 Son sent me this email:  

Josie had her own way of showing affection to the family. She may have come off as grumpy but she really did care for us. It showed in her wariness to strangers. She will be dearly missed.

In her lifetime, Josie became legendary with family and regular visitors - she might act all nice and even approach you.  And then she would try to take a hand off, or make a swipe at a passing leg.  One of our neighbors, who cared for Josie during some of our absences, recounted wearing socks even in the summertime, to safeguard from Miss Cuteness (and more importantly, her teeth and back claws!!!)  As our son says, I believe she thought she was protecting us, and our home.  Yes, a five-pound cat channeling her inner Doberman.

November 2017 - in the cat tree

Josie has been in many of my posts; one of my favorites depicted her Houdini talents.  But no recollection about Josie would be complete without this story.  On our way from Ohio to Montana, we were in a Minneapolis hotel for one night.  Shortly after carting all of our luggage, two cats and a bird to the room, I looked around to make sure the cats had used the litter box and settled in.  No surprise, Maggie was curled up on one of the beds.  Josie?  Nowhere to be found.  After two full circuits of the room, I was convinced she had gotten out. I roamed down two hallways, asking everyone if they had seen a Doberman gray cat.  No luck.  Returning to the room, I peered again under the beds, and discovered a hole in the box spring.  I could just see a gray spot pressed up against the far wall.  What was she thinking?  "You will never get me back in that cat carrier again".  After dismantling the box spring and retrieving Noodle, we blocked up the hole.  Egads, the things we do for our furbabies!

September 2017

Spousal Unit recollects that, even after Josie began venturing onto his lap, she was pretty fickle.  Unless conditions were "just right", you could just as easily see her perched on the narrow arm of the chair.  At times, she would not tolerate Maggie joining in the cuddles, and would jump down.  On other occasions, both of them would make a space and settle in.

June 2018

One day, Spousal Unit was listening to a band cover a Bruce Springsteen song, and Josie jumped on his lap.  I caught a little on video.


You may be wondering about Maggie - how is she coping?  Although they are not related, Maggie and Josie have been together most of their lives.  Rescue Village told us Maggie was 4 at the time of the adoption, so that means the "Old Lady" has passed the 18-year mark.  She has a little arthritis in her hips, but that doesn't keep her from jumping onto laps or the ottomans.  Since Josie's passing, Maggie has begun meowing in the morning, usually at the same time the coffee maker starts brewing.  It might be her way of mourning, or of carrying on Josie's fine legacy of the same.  Either way, we are making a concerted effort to give her more attention.

May 2017

July 2019

Josie may have had a favorite lap (Dad's) or a favorite dining room chair (near mine), but any craft activity was a friend of hers.  If you didn't want her to sit on it, you shouldn't leave it out in the open!!!

Upper left: My current project - a Christmas tree skirt.  This picture was taken September 13 - thanks, Josie, for

putting your paw prints on the last project we will do together!

A week passes quickly when you are busy, and occasionally a movement has caught the corner of my eye, and I have looked for Josie, expecting her to be there. Maybe it is these random moments that I will miss the most.

In our family, Christmas is a significant event, full of traditions.  My Josie photo collection contains more snaps from the Christmas season than any other time of year - as you already heard from our daughter, Josie joined in with gusto.

Christmas - 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

Christmas 2011 and 2017 - what happened in between?  Life?

I have no doubt that Christmas 2019 will not be the same without Josie, but we will raise a glass, and tell our Josie stories, and that may be enough.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter