Guest Post by Layla Morgan Wilde
Cat Saturday – In Memoriam
This edition of Cat Saturday is dedicated to Amber, a beloved cat born on July 29, 1998 and died on May 13, 2010. Amber lived with her human mom, Ingrid King near Washington D.C. The beautiful and wise Amber graced our pages as a Cat of the Week #55. She will be deeply missed by her many fans at her blog Amber’s Mewsings at Ingrid’s website The Conscious Cat.
Photo quote de jour
There have been several kitty deaths in both my actual and virtual families in recent months. Every death feels like a sucker punch to the gut. Nothing can prepare for the moment when a beloved four-legged friend dies. This time, the death of Amber treads a little too close for comfort. With Coco and Domino’s health scare, I’m steeling myself for a kitty funeral in my own backyard. Maybe it won’t happen for months, maybe years. In the meantime, I savor every moment and can’t take enough photos of my three. Today, when happily shooting in the garden this morning, I had no idea, Amber was dead but is it possible my cats, through some psychic cell phone knew bad news was in the wind and posed accordingly. Merlin posed by the peace sign. Those old blue eyes knew something.
Coco was especially meditative in the herb garden. She sends condolences of a heavenly sort.
Domino, Amber’s cyber-soul mate, her long-distance Romeo will have to wait to meet and marry his Juliet. Amber loved her “tough guy”. He’s used to danger and death, and but maybe his heart is little bigger having known love.
Link of the Week
Lightning-strike.com – a wonderful pet loss support resource.
Lightning-strike.com – a wonderful pet loss support resource.
Time with our beloved fur friends is fleeting. Enjoy yours.
All photographs © Layla Morgan Wilde, used by permission.
Layla Morgan Wilde is a writer, photographer, and intuitive life coach. She shares words and images designed to inspire and amuse on her blog, The Boomer Muse.
A whole beautiful week of tributes! What a fitting send-off to the Rainbow Bridge for Amber. I hope every day, the pain is replaced with peace, drop by drop, moment by moment.
I’m glad we can all help you as you walk this path each day, and I’m sure you know the spontaneous outpouring is a reflection of our own grief.
About the cats in the sun, indeed! You know my cats in the sun inspired a line of cards, plus other artwork and many, many photographs. These paintings and photos are some of my most treasured possessions and memories. I’d love to see more images, and perhaps we can do something with this.
I’m glad you enjoyed the tributes, Bernadette. They’ve been a way for me to try to begin to come to terms with my loss and the huge impact it’s having on every single facet of my life. The community on this site and elsewhere online has provided so much comfort over these difficult days.
I have so many photos of Amber in the sun, and Buckley, too. And Allegra seems to be a little sun-worshipper, too, just like her human mom. Perhaps we’ll start a “cats in the sun” segment here.
How sweet to come from the home of Amber’s long-distance love. I appreciate the way Layla puts her photo essays together.
I’ve enjoyed this week of tributes to Amber, a gathering of all of us offering our memories of her and our sympathies to Ingrid and share our thoughts on the loss of our animal companions. Thank you, Ingrid, for taking this week to share these tributes with us.
And I hope we see more of those sunny photos of Amber. There’s something so comforting about a cat enjoying the sun, and it’s always been one of my biggest inspirations for art and photography. I think they slip off into their spiritual space when washed by the sun.