Maggie and I bonded immediately.
I was working yet at the time, and she would greet me at the door each evening when I arrived home,
or she would be on her cat stand in the living room window waiting for my car to pull in the driveway.
I would always say as I came through the door, “Mommy’s home Maggie.
How did mommy’s baby’s day go? Were you a good girl?”
She would come and rub round and round my legs and purr with excitement.

From the time she was a baby, she never drank water from a bowl. For 13 years I left the faucet in the bathtub at a trickle for her.
She loved the water, not for bathing, but for playing in.
She would drink and allow the water to run on her head.
She liked jumping into the wet tub after I showered and she would walk back and forth across the wet tub.
She loved to stick her paw in a glass of ice water and tip it over.
Only near the end, when she didn’t have the strength to get into the tub, did she drink from the bowl
and I had to put it under her face to lap from.
She was so pathetically weak and tired.
Her heart was so enlarged it was pressing on her breathing organs.

Maggie wanted to be with me all the time.
She followed me from room to room.
Sometimes I didn’t realize she was at my feet and I would step on her.
I can’t count the number of times I said, “oh, Maggie, mommy’s so sorry.
I didn’t know you were right there.” No matter what I was doing, she wanted to be in the center of it.
When I was away, I would leave a couple of articles of my clothing lying around.
She would find these to sleep on.

Maggie Rose was afraid of lots of things,
such as the vacuum cleaner, the lawn mower, the basement, thunderstorms, dogs, and plastic bags and I protected her from these.
Sadly, I could not protect her from death.

I had my back yard fenced when I got Maggie because she loved it outdoors.
She couldn’t get over the fence because she was a pleasingly plump lady.
She was a joy to watch.
She would sit by the hour over a chipmunk hole waiting for it to come out.
Occasionally a Monarch butterfly would come through and she would chase it.
I have 9 bird feeders in my yard and she used to love watching the birds.
She didn’t chase them very often, but one time she did chase and catch one.
She played with it, but had injured it when she caught it.
To Maggie, this bird was a toy.

Maggie was not a lap cat except when I held her to comb her,but she wanted to be touching me.
She would lay with her head on my feet when I was in a sitting position.
When I was in bed, she quite often would lay right next to me, touching me,
if she didn’t get into her own little bed which was on top of my bed, and still is.
When she got on the couch with me, she had to have her paws touching my leg.
If I sat at the table to read or write, she would jump up and place her paws on my arm.
Some part of her body always had to be touching mine.

Maggie liked to play fetch.
She had several felt mice that she dragged around the house.
She would “catch” one of them and sit on it and beat it with her hind feet.
In the middle of the night I would hear her make this awful sounding cry and I would leap out of bed thinking something was wrong with her.
She would be beating on one of these mice.
If I threw one of the mice to her, she would fetch it and bring it to me.
I always praised her and praised her for this.
A couple of my friends called her a dog-cat because she loved to play fetch.

Maggie Rose also loved to play peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek.
We would do this with a blanket.
She loved her treats and knew they were kept in the bottom cupboard.
She would stand on her hind legs and pound on the cupboard doors incessantly until she was given a treat.
She did this most of all if I had company in the kitchen.
She knew she could get my undivided attention by banging as loud as she could on the cupboard doors.

When I had a kidney stone and needed surgery, Maggie was by my side.
She knew something was wrong.
When I had the flu, she sensed I was sick.
I knew when she didn’t feel well. We unconditionally loved each other.
We understood each other totally. We were devoted to each other.
She was the love of my life, the light of my life, my soul mate, my kindred spirit,
my gift from God, my little girl, my comfort, my joy, a spiritual connection,
a soft place to fall, and I miss her so very much.

Rhoda (Maggie Rose’s Mommy)

I saw our chipmunk. Remember how I told you last winter that he was hiding under the snow?
Well, he's back. I almost feel as though he was looking for you.
I am grieving that you were not here to see him.
I am sad that you are not here to lay in the grass and sit under the lilac bush or to watch the birds with me.
And I have been thinking of what an awful summer it's going to be without you by my side.
I miss you little girl.

Sometimes I think of how I held you that last afternoon.
I soaked your fur with my tears and held you tight while you had your sedative and shot.
I felt your life leave your little body.
I felt life go out of my soul. I almost died that night.
I cried until I was sick. Love of my life, you were gone. How was mommy to go on.

A lot of stress comes with a broken heart my little one.
But mommy has so many beautiful memories and these will keep me going until we can be together again.
I’m so lonesome for you, mommy’s little punkin.
I washed our blanket this week. Remember the one we used when we watched t.v.
and mommy would make a tent out of it and we would play hide and seek and peek a boo?
Oh, Maggie Rose, I miss you so much.
This week I put the bedroom window up for the first time since your death.
This was so painful. Always when that window went up I would say,
"Maggie, mommy's putting the window up for you."
And you would come running and jump up on the bed and sprawl in the window,
one of your favorite spots. Oh, I wish you were there in the window.

I lie in bed at night and hold on to your ducky.
I’m lonesome for you and you aren’t in the window.
I keep praying to God that He put you in the window for just a second,
but my heart, that is not to be. We were kindred spirits, you and mommy.
So whenever the soft breeze comes through the window,
I will know it’s your spirit blowing in love.

I hope you are not afraid. Please don't be afraid love of my life,
for some day you will be able to hide in my arms again.
You can burrow your little head into my arms and mommy will cover you with kisses.
Some day you will be able to lay on mommy’s chest and purr your beautiful purr while I sing to you,
and you will knead my neck with your mitten paws.

Things in this old house will never be the same.
I am feeling the emptiness more than ever.
We were one, you and I. We were best buddies.
You were my little girl. You were my joy. You were my smiles.
You were my comfort. I was your mommy.

Love to you always and forever, my Maggie Rose,

Mommy