Willie Boy

About two weeks ago my Mom emailed me informing me that our cat of the past 12-13 years, Willie, had passed away. Within the email was a request that I pay one last tribute to Willie, by way of a blog. I had intended to do this shortly after I read the email but two things were slowing me up. The first and most important being that my Mom needed time to grieve. If anybody knows my mother then you know her fondness towards her pets. She loves those animals so much that I bet it took every ounce of discipline in her bones to not take a personal day at work. She loves her cats and dogs like they are child number 4, 5, and 6; and if anybody thinks I'm exaggerating trust me, I'm not. The second reason why it took me forever and a day to put Willie's legacy out for the world to see was I did not know how to write a fitting eulogy. That is until today. I spent all day outside handing our four tanks over as the final part of our redeployment back to Germany. During that time I had many thoughts that seemed to fit together like a puzzle centered on Willie; hopefully those thoughts serve Willie he respect he deserves.

I can't guarantee 100% accuracy due to my age and the time that has passed.

It was a cold December night in 1996 I believe. My sisters and I were staying with my Mom when she came inside unsure of how to deliver the news. The short version of the story is that she was at a friend's house when she saw this kitten outside that was in such bad condition it would not make it through the night. My Mom, never one to turn down a stray cat, acted on impulse and adopted her third cat there on the spot. I do have to agree with her judgment that Willie would not have made it through the night. I think he weighed as much as a hamster, had worms, and a terrible case of diarrhea. Instantly my sisters and I fell in love with him and were hoping the attempt to save his life had not come too late.

After Willie made it through the night it seemed only fitting that we choose a name. At the time we already had two cats, Pretty Girl (no joke) and Baby Girl (again, no joke.) After bouncing a few names around it was settled that the stray cat would be named Lilly. I know what you're thinking. "Lilly? I thought you said Willie?" The first thing you do when naming a pet is determine the gender to give a fitting name. Well, we did that. We flipped Willie upside down, blew on his fur and combed through the "area" finding nothing. Girl cat gets a girl name. I think it came a few weeks later when my Mom brought Willie into the vet and discovered Lilly's secret; Lilly had a penis. Oops! Talk about an unforgiving mistake. All throughout Willie's life he complained and never shut up. We called him Willie Boy a lot but when he got into one of his fits it was not uncommon to refer to him as "Bitchy Boy." I wish I could understand cat dialect because I'm sure what Willie was really doing was reminding us of our mistake and making us pay for it.

    "You're lucky I have fur and walk on four legs otherwise I would meet you in an alley and roll you up Romick," Meowed Willie.

Willie eventually gained weight, lost the worms, and took the form of a full-fledged housecat. He went from weighing a mere 2 lbs to 20 lbs in no time flat. Willie was closer to death than any living creature should be and somehow I think he knew that and remembered that. Willie never missed meal, ever. When you're on the brink of death and starvation is a main part of the problem; given the opportunity obesity doesn't sound like a bad alternative. Willie also had no problem gaining weight because his exercise program was flawed; flawed as in he didn't have one. Many kittens play constantly, it's what they do best. Willie was a fan of hopping on one of us, getting the bottom side of his chin rubbed, purring, then passing out. Willie won the lotto; he got a roof over his head, an endless supply of food and people who loved him. Why would he want to be anything other than a "lap cat?" Upon realizing his stay wasn't temporary, but permanent, that was when Willie's true personality came out.

That was a basic introduction into the life of Willie, what I want to do now is list a few of my favorite moments and character traits of Willie. The list is in no particular order:

• I don't remember how long ago it was but I went into the kitchen and saw Willie lying on the ground with his head in his food bowl. Evidently he was so tired from his strenuous day of walking to and from the litter box that he felt the need to lie down and eat. I remember thinking at the time and told my mom, "Does standing up to eat burn to many calories?" I've seen some things in my life but never have I seen a cat barely a few years old not have the will power to stand up and eat. When Willie sat down on your legs he weighed so much that after time your legs started to go to sleep and you could grab a good handful of the excess cat fat that was his stomach. Whatever his reasons were to lie down and eat I'm sure they were good and it was just one of the many reasons we loved that cat so much.
  
• Willie hated holes in his food bowl. Willie was half Siamese and half farm cat but whenever he saw the bottom of his food dish he unleashed the full fury of his Siamese side. I think this attributed to Willie's exposure to poverty prior to joining our house. I would be in the kitchen with my Mom and Willie would start going crazy to the point he was lucky we loved him. I'd ask my Mom what was wrong with him and she would reply, "I don't know? Does he have a hole in his food bowl?" Sure enough, he did. As a parent there are three basic things I've learned when a new baby crying. Check the diaper, feed them, and burp them. If Willie had one rule: Keep His Food Bowl FULL!
  
• Willie loved having slumber parties! Not the traditional slumber party where you spend the night at a friend's house in your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sleeping bag but more of a movie night. After my brief stint at Kirkwood C.C. I moved back home and stayed with my Mom. By the way, during this time is when most of my Willie stories occurred. We didn't have cable, the internet was dial up, and my Mom lived in Prairie City. I didn't have a lot of options for fun so I had to make my own. One evening when my sister Emily was over we decided to watch Pretty Woman in our room and brought Willie in with us. Much to our surprise Willie lasted the entire movie, and then it became sort of a tradition. With our viewing options limited Emily would always ask, "Andrew. Do you want to take Willie and have a slumber party?" I knew exactly what she meant, so did Willie. Pretty Woman was his favorite movie. And if movies could make cats cry I think Willie did just that every time he heard Roxette sing It Must Have Been Love.
  
• Willie's was not the only cat we had as I already mentioned, there were two others. Well Baby Girl was the cat closest to Willie in age and we used to always joke that if Willie was serious about winning Baby's affection then he would need to slim down. We credited much of his verbal out lashes to sexual frustration. Willie would follow Baby around and for years but she was playing hard to get. It couldn't have been easy on him being the only male cat living with two females constantly striking out. Fortunately for Willie when my Mom moved to her country home she acquired another cat (do you see a trend here) named Tippy Toes who accepted Willie for the way he was. You know what followed, Willie lost weight. I think he began walking around snickering to Baby, "See what you could have had?"
  
• I'm not proud of this story at all but my stomach hurts because I'm laughing so hard thinking about it. One year during Christmas time my Mom and I were wrapping presents and Willie was near us. I don't think he was whining or do anything wrong. For one reason or another my Mom and I took the wrapping paper rolls and began chasing Willie around the house with them like loud vacuum cleaner. Willie was petrified; his eyes were wide and full of terror as he zig zagged around the living room, ripping out pieces of carpet in the process. We were laughing uncontrollably with our juvenile act of intimidation as Willie darted off to the bedroom hiding underneath the bed. Rather than accept defeat we continued to probe him with the wrapping paper as he hid for his life. It was the meanest thing we ever did to him but we couldn't stop laughing. Eventually we stopped, pulled him out from under the bed and apologized repeatedly. It took many viewings of Pretty Woman for Willie to forgive me for that day.
  

Willie was a great cat and a great addition to the house. Even though he had a very boisterous personality that was what made him Willie. Pets are a wonderful thing and truly are part of the family. They relieve stress, greet you at the door, they're loyal, and love nothing more than their owner. Whether you have a bad day at work or your personal life is falling apart you know that you have that one positive constant waiting for you at home. You devote years and money towards them but they are also present for many memories over the years. Many people who have never had a pet can never truly understand just how difficult it is when you have to say goodbye to that part of the family because that is what they are, family. As difficult as it is to say goodbye and let go of that time you know that you made a difference in their life just as they made a difference in yours. We were surprised Willie survived upon bringing him home and even more surprised the love he was able to show us and the love we developed for him. Even though he has passed I can still hear that annoying Siamese meow and know that when I go back to my Mom's house that it somehow won't be the same.

Hope you enjoyed.