Jake

Today is my first post of the year.

I wish it were a happier one.

On July 3, 2015, Jake died.

It is heartbreaking.  It was unexpected.  We had no time to prepare for this.

None.

I just want my kitten back.

Jake was an awesome American short haired tabby cat.  He was like no other.

We had him from the start of our engagement until after our Marriage and even our First kid.  We had planned his future far from today.

We love him.

He use to love the sun.  In Gaston he would climb behind the shades and we would find him sitting, sometimes sleeping behind the curtain.  Sometimes he would just randomly come to visit us in the other room, his fur all warm and toasty.  Either this was from the window or the fireplace. The fireplace?  Yep.  If he got cold he would curl right up to it and sprawl right out.  He’d lay out and sleep as long as it had a flame.  Him and my then fiancé (and now wife) would just lay with each other.

You see my fiancé was sad.  A little lonely and missing her family and friends.  Giving things up to be with me (crazy, yes I know).  Well after we agreed upon this love able cat he stole something from us.

He would always cuddle and give attention to the person in need.

My wife needed him.  He knew it.  He would sleep with her every-single-night.  He would spend countless hours with her.  For a while I actually thought he was just going to be ‘her’ cat and eventually I’d get a dog or something.

He would greet us when we came home.  He sometimes would let us know when he was lonely (by meowing at 2am) and when we called him up on our bed he would purr and knead and turn into a happy… (as my wife would say) he was a  smitten-kitten.  He loved his food, make no mistake.  Whoever fed him would be sure to be treated with some extra affection later on.

I learned this.  I used this.  How?  When he stated to give me attention for various reasons I started to have everyone else feed him.  So they could see the angel I did.  No longer was he just a big cat.  He was ours.  He is family.  He didn’t need us, we needed him.

When we had first gotten him at the shelter he had problems.  Worms and overweight (amongst others) and we nursed him back to a healthy life.

When Arabella was born… We greeted him to her and his first reaction (after sniffing her) was followed by purring and a subsequent head-butt.  What. A. Cat.

I thought ‘this is it, we won’t see him as much now with having a kid.  Our attention will be elsewhere.’  It was true.  But… It wasn’t.  Arabella screamed bloody murder at me for the first year she was on this earth when I’d do anything with her.  It killed me inside.

As for Jake?  He would come keep me company when I was sitting alone.  Even when Arabella was screaming her face, a simple meow and head-butt on my leg.  He would sleep with me at night.  Every night.  He was there when I needed him most.  

I may have been the only one up in the house going through having a hard time and he would come out and stay awake with me.  He was really that good.

It got to the point where I had a job where I dress up everyday.  I  didn’t want cat hair on my pants before I left for work.  I’d sit further away from him.  Tell him to go see Maryia or something else.  …Oh what I wouldn’t give to have that back.

Peppermint will always remind me of my little peppermint-patty.  The ho ho scarf at Christmas.  He would lay by the fire in winter and stare at the Christmas tree in awe (sleeping under the tree was the norm).  The fact that he loved looking out our screen door when it was open.  The time at the hotel when he wanted some Jimmy Johns and I gave him some.  The times in the pool.  There are so many memories.

What about Arabella?  Well she was too small at first to to any real harm.  She would make baby movements but ultimately he would still lay around her.  Protect her.  Guard her.

Then she got older.  He didn’t like her screaming (and would walk away) but whenever it was more than a fit, if she had a fever or needed something more, he would brave through the crying and look at her.  Trying to figure out what was wrong, what he could do to help.  That’s just what he did.

She was walking now.  Unfortunately she didn’t understand when she hit him it could hurt.  She would pull his ears, literally take hair from his coat and stab him with a pencil and he wouldn’t lash out.  Instead during nap time he would assume the protector role.  Who does that?!

Jake.

He really was everything we needed.  Maybe a guardian angel of ours.

Then the bad news.  The sad news.

We had planned our annual trip to LA for the Fourth of July.  We rented a car and started on our way.  Jake and our newest addition to the the family: Jinxy (a hamster) were in their cages.  We left early.  Around 9am.

Around ten or eleven – in the middle of the desert we started to sweat.  We turned down the AC only to notice it was already on MAX AC.

We pulled over to call the rental place. This wasn’t good.  They said to take it to the first one.  Another hour away.

So we did just that.  We drove on.  They assured us everything would be fine- the location had many cars to swap with.  After arriving to the location we learned they actually had no cars to trade.  They checked elsewhere… No cars anywhere.  We kept going.  The gas on this car was pretty good.  We would make it to LA with less than a tank of gas being used.  The temp in the car continued to rise.  Maryia gave our remaining water to Arabella to keep her from overheating.

A little while later after getting into the city, we stopped. We opened up his cage …and found him motionless.  Our hearts dropped.  He would always poke his head out immediately while meowing the whole time.  He would be happy to see us.

This time he was just motionless.

Both he and Jinxy died because our rental car didn’t have air conditioning.  And Arabella was overheated.

The funny part? We didn’t take the car we had originally rented.  We paid more and upgraded so we could have more room.  Why did we do that?  Why couldn’t we just take the reserved car?

His last night just about killed me.  Normally scared of vacuums I cleared the house.  Jake laid on the couch.  He trusted we would take care of him.  He didn’t move.  Hardly batted an eye.  Then later he begged for some food.  He hasn’t had an appetite lately and we wanted his hunger to come back.  It came back.  Maryia gave him some wet food.  This was uncommon- but so welcome.  We just wanted to ensure he was healthy and with us for a long time.

Then there was a thunderstorm that night.

Jake crawled up..  and while purring he cuddled me.  He kept me company.  He later walked across me and laid with Maryia and Arabella for the remainder of the night.  He was protecting them as he has always done.  He loved us til the very end.

And now? I can’t even remember if I saw him the next morning, I was just looking to get on the road…   Why didn’t I just give him some love?  More regrets.  He was always there when we need him.

Jake stole our hearts.  And now our hearts are in peices with this loss of our family member.

R.I.P. Jake Dewey

Aka: Jake Parish, Peppermint-patty, handsome, smitten kitten, Jake soft paws, snuggle bug, king Jake, kitten, kitty cat, tiger cub, jungle Jake, Jakey, Jacob and Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.

We love you.  We only wish that we could have been there when you needed us most.