Feline Flashback Friday: Memories of Sebastian

If you're anything like me, you can recite the Gotcha Days and Rainbow Bridge Days of each beloved pet without second thought, but dates regarding the humans in your life require a bit more brain power.

July 7th has become the most dreaded day of the year for me (the date I lost both Tara and Truffles) but for 3 years in a row in the late '90s January 8th was a date I would've been happy to banish from the calendar forever.

On that date in 1999 I lost my Uncle Bob who was like a second father to me, in 1998 an ice storm struck the northeast and we were without power and bailing water from the basement for days, and on January 8, 1997 my beautiful tuxedo boy Sebastian went to the Bridge. 24 years ago today...

He was a neighborhood rescue left behind by a neighbor when they moved away. He then ended up in the care of an elderly couple across the road from us. When the wife passed away, a gold digger moved in on the husband and we feared the cat was on his way out. Over a period of months in late 1993 we turned him into a wonderful housecat after spending the majority of his life outside.

One of my favorite memories of Sebastian came on November 7, 1993. (Yes, I remember the exact date.) I had won tickets to a Billy Ray Cyrus concert (don't judge) in Montreal - by limo! When the limo came to pick us up that afternoon my mother and I were running around the yard trying to find him because we didn't want him stuck outside until we got home late that night - which only by the grace of God we did! The limo driver took a wrong turn in Montreal and we ended up driving into multiple lanes of oncoming traffic. It's truly a miracle something horrible didn't happen.

We don't know exactly how old Sebastian was once we officially adopted him, but he had to be in his teens looking back at how long we had seen him in the neighborhood. In September 1996 he was diagnosed with advanced kidney disease, and in spite of my father learning to administer subcutaneous fluids, Sebastian made his journey to the Rainbow Bridge on January 8, 1997.

Sebastian didn't have the easiest life. Many times through the years our hearts broke seeing him outside in all kinds of adverse weather conditions. But for the few years that he was a part of my family, he knew he was loved.

Feline Friday is simple to join. All you have to do is:

Post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (They may be silly or cute).