Cats and Dominoes

THE S CATS
Susie 1974–1984 Sabrina 1977– 1992
Sandy 1988 -1996 Sarek 1995 -

So many years and so many changes in my life. The cats were the only constant. Everything I did revolved around them. Susie and I went east in 1977 and started a chain of events that led to where I am today. Like a neatly stacked series of dominoes one thing led to the next and the next and so on.

Because I went east in ’77, I picked up a pair of hitch hikers on the way back. Because of them, I lost my Toyota and wound up buying a taxi. Then one day while buying groceries I met an old friend. There was dinner at The Moose Factory and dancing at Lucifer’s. A year and a plane trip later the whole thing was nothing but a memory.

Then there was 804a and all the roommates, friends and lovers. Back to school and three long years with next to no sleep, the return of an old friend and our mutual disappointment in each other. Graduation, a new locale and a return to the ways of old. The garden and the bust. A change of careers and one last visit with an old friend. Hugs and goodbyes. Another change of career and yet another return to ways of old. An unexpected kiss. More than friends. A new home and a wife.

No one piece of the chain can be eliminated or changed in any way. All are required for me to be here and here is where I want to be. Through all of it there however there were the cats. First Susie and Sabrina, then Sandy and finally Sarek. All have been strays and all have had names beginning with an S. Each one has known their predecessor. There have been and are other cats in my life but there has always been an S cat.

Sarek will probably be the last in the chain for we are planning to let the cats we currently have live out their lives without any further additions. They are all getting too old to contend with any newcomers as am I. It’s been an exciting life to say the least. Not a perfect one but who’s is? I’m here, healthy and happy. The path I took to get here is irrelevant as is where I go from here. The journey is and has always been more important than the destination and now at least, I no longer have to travel alone.