Dearly Departed

I write this to commemorate the life and death of Jinx to-Ennien Ross. Jinx has been a member of my family since I was eight years old, when my sister and I were allowed to pick out one free kitten to be our family pet. Of course, as sisters can never agree on much in childhood, we couldn’t pick just one. D’s recollection of the day is that I immediately ran to a cute-as-can-be white, black, and brown Calico, while she ran to a black and white sibling. Upon seeing the other’s kitten, we immediately traded and both of us fell completely in love. Of course, the power of persuasion behind two little girls’ puppy dog eyes combined was enough to make our parents allow us both kittens, and the day we got to bring them home was pure excitement for D and me. They fit in the palm of our hands when we brought them home with us. This is an amazing fact, if you knew them as adults.

D named Jinx after a character out of a favorite Star Trek book, and she was D’s cat through and through. As a female cat, she showed her affection in a way that was much different and not at all as codependent as Midnight showed his. But I remember walking into D’s room one afternoon when she wasn’t feeling well and finding Jinx there with her, tucked under her arm and cozy as could be with her adoptive mom. That image will never leave me.

She kept her distance from the rest of us for much of her life. She was by no means mean; rather, she knew what she liked and when she needed attention and she was otherwise a very independent spirit. In fact, she was much like the rest of the women in our family. After D left for college, Jinx began letting the rest of us in. Once I left, she absolutely became Mom’s little girl. As they both aged (Jinx and our mom), they both dropped some weight and developed thyroid conditions. D and I got much amusement out of the image of our mom and Jinx taking their pills together every morning. Even in this, she was a little brat. That cat knew very well how to spit out pills. She also knew how to finish all of the cheese in which the pill was wrapped. One of her favorite past-times throughout her life, in fact, was licking all of the cheese or salt or other flavoring off of whatever cracker we happened to be eating and leaving the rest on the floor.

In her old age, she adopted the dining room as her territory. She basically left it to eat and poop. She was the mistress of her domain and she knew it. So you can imagine her chagrin when D’s two younger kittens joined the family temporarily when D left for Australia. Amazingly, the kittens gently pulled Jinx out of her shell and engaged her in some playfulness that the family had not seen in a while. She perked up.

But not even young kittens could keep her from leaving this life. Our parents returned from a three-week vacation to Seattle and Sydney and found her almost unable to move. A visit to the vet this morning revealed that there was not much to be done and my parents decided that the most humane thing for her would be to let her go. They stayed with her and held her and she even purred a little. They said their goodbyes and then they let her go.

She lived a good long life in our family, having turned eighteen last month. She was a well-loved member of the family, another child to us all. She brought us laughter with her antics, her preferences, and her purrs. She is dearly missed.

Rest in peace, dear one.

Love, your aunt Angela