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Taken in my first apartment April 23, 1995
Jeremy and Shadow (she denies they ever got along but I have the photos to prove it!!!) July 29. 2001
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Shadow was born June 1990 and came to me just a few weeks old the summer after my sophomore year of high school. Little did either of us know how many adventures we would share together. We’ve been across the country and back. She’s stayed in Orlando, Daytona Beach, Sacramento, Citrus Heights, Davis, San Rafael, Larkspur, Point Richmond, San Ramon, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and (for the second time in her life) San Francisco.
Just as I’ve watched her grow, so has she watched me as well. She has seen me graduate high school and college. She has seen me through all my boyfriends and dates that I’ve ever had in my life (I’m sure there are images she’d rather erase from her mind too.  ). Yes, she has been the one constant in my life throughout the many highs and the few lows. Definitely my best friend. |
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Checking out the balcony in Davis May 13, 2000
Mousing in Davis and covered in spider webs as she plays with her “toy” (yes that’s a real mouse) July 2, 2000
Shadow is double checking my schoolwork 
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Always the adventurer, she has been an accomplished mouser, lizard catcher and all-around bug chaser. Even into her early teens, she managed to instruct her younger siblings, Jeremy and Betty, on the finer points of mousing in San Ramon. I would have preferred it if she had left the “instructional materials” outside instead of presenting Daddy with a prize. LOL
Well my poor girl is sick right now. She turned 17 this past June–an amazing age to reach for any cat. And while we have been able to manage her declining kidney function with great success, she has been diagnosed with a form of mouth cancer.
It’s too early to say what will happen. But the veterinarian is confident that if the biopsy results show it is the form of cancer that he and his colleagues believe it to be, that a one-time radiation treatment at U.C. Davis will stop the cancer and mitigate the chances of it spreading.
She’s my girl. And I’m really hurting right now. It has only been a year and a half since I lost her younger brother Jeremy while I was living in Laguna Beach. I knew a day like this would come, but I promised her that I would never let her suffer–never put my selfish desire to maintain our loving relationship before her own well-being.
There’s just never a good time to say goodbye. I hope it’s not today. |
