Max, The Beloved Owner of Dalton

 

Max The Cat  2005 – 2009 (TBD)

Last night before bedtime we came to the unsettling conclusion that our beloved cat, Max, is missing.   We haven’t seen him for two days.  He probably, dare I say, “moved to the farm”,  “Bought THE BIG ONE”,  not likely to return…EVER.  

Max the amazing cat.

  He doesn’t do fancy tricks.  He is not snuggly.  And he rarely  ever plays with anything.  Mostly, he sleeps all day. Then he goes outside several times in the evening before bedtime.  Then, just before the wee hours of the morning approach – 3:30AM, EVERY MORNING LIKE CLOCKWORK – he jumps on the bed and meows to wake us up so he can go outside.  If we don’t  wake up to the meow he scratches the furniture as a last resort to get our attention.  The sound of claws on upholstery never gets ignored.  

Other cats have come and gone – to the same supposed farm.  One, we suspect, (our beloved Maizey Jr. – daughter of Max) now lives in a house down the street.  But Max, he stayed on and endures all of the love our family has to give.  His two best attributes:  Patience and Loyalty.  Max is the most incredibly patient cat we have ever known.  He allows us to hold him and snuggle him like a baby.  We  pass him from person to person over and over every evening and he never scratches, bites, hisses or tries to wiggle away.  He just lets it happen.    

We love him for his patience but adore him even more because of his  faithfulness and loyalty to our son Dalton.  Max doesn’t belong to us or to Dalton.  No, Dalton belongs to Max.  That’s right, Dalton is Max’s boy.   Most nights Max sleeps on or under his boy’s bed.  During the day he is the lone occupant of  the bedroom they share as he patiently waits for his boy to return home from school.   Each morning when he returns indoors after an early morning mouse hunt he runs to his food bowl for a quick bite and then immediately returns to the room where his boy is sleeping.  If the door is closed he sits outside and meows loudly as if announcing his arrival for a long awaited reunion.  

If ever a cat has been loved, it is Max the Magnificent.   We love him for his  patience but we adore him for choosing Dalton to be his very own boy.

Although we have talked to the children about the possibility of never seeing him again, and yes even the “D” word (DEATH), it hasn’t quite yet sunk in that this is actually the end of our co-existence on Earth.  Do cats go to heaven?  I don’t know.  To me it doesn’t matter.  He has fulfilled his purpose in life by providing our family with four years of great joy, and he has transformed Dalton into a gentle lover of animals big and small.

 

Dear Beloved Max – Owner of Dalton – we miss you already.  

Thank you for enduring our love.   May your farm be full of a never-ending supply of big fat, juicy mice.