Glenn Stewart Coles, 9251 Yonge Street, Suite 8-924, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, L4C 9T3
Text Box: Some Weekly Inspirations are easy to write. This one was very difficult. On Friday the 13th I learned that my black cat had a terminal disease. On Monday, June 16, 2008 my beautiful cat Selena was peacefully put to rest. She was twelve years old. The Dalai Lama reminds us that all pain is a result of attachment. As I feel my pain, I also feel tremendous gratitude for the attachment that I formed with Selena. She has been my close companion for one-quarter of my life. Though I am heartbroken about the loss, I also recognize that Selena’s passing has triggered additional healing within me. In a life full of blessings, Selena provided many. In October 1995 I had started a new and promising job and moved by myself into a three-bedroom apartment. I was prepared to settle down for a bit and with all the extra space decided that I wanted a pet. While growing up my dog Sparky was a wonderful companion, but with business travel and working hours I could not provide the attention that a dog required. When a friend’s cat had kittens, I decided to bring one home. There were four kittens in the litter. My friend did a great sales job suggesting that I take home two kittens so that they would not be alone while I was away. I sat in a chair to see who approached, and I was soon driving home with two cute black kittens. I decided to name them Selena and Kyle, a reference to comic book trivia since Selena Kyle is the secret identity of Catwoman. Over the next year and a half the cats grew up in a wondrous play land of isolation. They never left the apartment so their world consisted of a few rooms with a long hallway outside. On occasion I would prop my front door open a few inches with a shoe and Selena and Kyle would venture down the hallway to explore. Once I was watching them through the keyhole and there was a loud noise from the other end of the hall. Selena and Kyle turned and raced back towards the apartment. Selena was always the fastest and reached the door first. She turned her body, hitting the door with her side before slipping through the open crack. Right behind her, Kyle ran headfirst into the door. As brother and sister, Kyle and Selena looked alike but had very different personalities. Selena was much more active and adventurous. My first moment of awe occurred when Kyle was chasing her into the living room. Selena leaped onto the back of a cloth-covered rocking chair and used it as a springboard. She sailed through the air and landed on the dining room table, sliding on the polished wood and spinning to a stop. Kyle gave up chase. It was at the apartment where we learned the tin foil game. I would roll the foil from a cigarette pack into a ball and flick it down the hallway at Selena. She would play goalie and stop the ball, or chase it if it got past her. When I threw the ball over her head she would leap and grab it, practice for her future propensity at catching moths and dragonflies. Sometimes she would swat the ball so well that it came rolling back to me for another try. We played this game all of Selena’s life, and as I pick up the last foil balls from around the house, I realize that I don’t need cigarettes anymore. In May 1997 I moved into a townhouse. While the movers were working, I put the cats into the downstairs bathroom for safety. Later when I opened the door, both cats were cowered behind the toilet, afraid of their new environment and the noise of the movers. They came out and began to explore. Selena, always the braver of the two, was the first to discover the route upstairs. Neither cat had ever seen stairs in their lives, but Selena managed the first climb quite easily and ventured into her new world. It took Kyle a few minutes to get up the nerve to follow us. For the next two years Selena and Kyle were the joy of the household. I left the back window open so that they could venture out, but neither went very far. At night, Kyle was closest to me, cuddling up beside my pillow with his head on my arm. Selena occasionally would sleep at the foot of my bed, but usually took a spot on the big comfortable chair across the room. In the fall of 1999, everything changed. I went away for a ten-day trip and by the time I returned, Kyle had moved next door. My neighbors with four cats had departed a month before and a new family without pets had moved in. Kyle began sleeping in their house in the room of their teenage daughter. Though we tried for months to bring him back, he would always return to the neighbor’s house. He still lives there, nine years later. Continued on next page © Copyright Glenn Stewart Coles, 2008 First Published June 19, 2008

Subscribe to

Weekly Inspirations

The Cat that Changed My Life

 

 

All pain is a result of attachment.

Step by Step
Step by Step Art Print
Charbonneau, John
Buy at AllPosters.com
Bast, Egyptian Cat Goddess, Goddess of Love
Bast, Egyptian Cat Goddess, Goddess of Love Giclee Print
Akers, Michaela
Buy at AllPosters.com
Curious Balance
Curious Balance Art Print
Schippers, Arie
Buy at AllPosters.com