Ginger

No story of Mom's life could ever be complete with out acknowledging Ginger. Her boon companion;confident;the real love of life: her cat.

My Mom has always been an animal person and I can hardly remember not having a dog, birds, fish...no rodent pets and no cats, as my birth father did not like them. My Mom used to say that cats are sneaky, but that changed waaaaaaay later.

When my (step)dad and Mom got married, they were petless by choice, but at some point decided they had done enough traveling around and for whatever other reasons, decided to get a dog. They him for probably about 8 yrs I am thinking and he went to the dog park in the sky. Mom was devastated, heartbroken, so much so that it really worried me. She missed having a furry something. My kids decided to get her a cat for her birthday but ended up sending me because they both had to work. I spent only 3 hours at the Humane Society before settling on Ginger.

It was love at first sight for my Mom but my Dad held off, until Ginger came up on the sofa during a ball game and settled in right next to him. That was all it took. She was an unusual cat in that she loved to play ball, came when she was called and loved to snuggle. She played little games when Mom changed the linens. She was loved by all. Not to mention, stunning ginger fur and green eyes. She had her own way about her and if my parents were away too long or Mom was away somewhere, she show her displeasure by biting her. My husband nicknamed her Ginger-Bite-Us, oddly though, she only bit Mom. She did love her though as evidenced by the perfect heart shaped litter box pee....seriously, untouched.

Ginger was a much loved happy girl for a very long time. She seemed to fit in where ever she was, since she had moved from their home off Ocotillo, to ChrisRidge apartments and finally to my New River home where she let the other animals know who was the boss. She loved being admired,and certainly let us all have equal opportunities to do so. Ginger was either 15 or 22 or 26 depending on the day that Mom was talking about her. I, myself, think that she was 15 and that is nothing to scoff at, but Mom insisted she was 22 or older. Sadly though we had to help Ginger to her final rest at the end of last November. She had started to decline and went into kidney failure. Mom couldn't be with her but I held her as she passed on, gratefully and peacefully and very much a grand lady till the end. She was cremated and waits for her final resting place with Mom.