It’s been an amazing journey. I lost my Missy Ed on April 10. She had been diagnosed with mammary cancer for over a year, so I had practiced saying goodbye forever, it seemed. However, true tragedy struck and I unexpectedly lost her sister Mira. Ed was heartbroken. Where before she was engaged, curious about her world, interacting with me and the world outside, now she began to withdraw. Ed and Mira had been together for over 16 years. She began to worry her mammary tumors, wouldn’t venture into rooms of my apartment that Mira had laid claim to. Ed and I clung to each other in our devastated grief over Mira’s unexpected death. Ed withdrew more and more until I finally had to accept that she was done with this world. Caring Pathways made the transition beautiful and poignant. And I said goodbye to Missy Ed, my baby.
I adopted Ed when she was barely 6 months old. She was fresh out of a feral colony, and she was wild. Up on top of everything, into everything, curious and fearless. Her original name was Lyra, but because she was so crazy, and because she had so many health issues, I called her Special Ed as a joke. And she began to answer to it. Hence, a female cat named Ed.
We went through so much together. At one stage of my life, when the will to live escaped me, she protected me, gave my empty life meaning and purpose. She greeted me every morning with exuberance, and met me at the door every night..
The last month she was alive have erased many of my fond memories of Ed, because she withdrew and became so distant. And for that I will never forgive myself. But I can’t forget that the place she held in my heart will be forever empty now that she’s gone.
My Missy Ed. Quirky, silly, indomitable, and forever one of a kind. I miss her. Ed, I miss you. There will forever be a place for you in my heart. In my heart, you will never die.
