Taramee

About 5 years ago my ex, the Fireman, brought home a scrawny little runt of a cat. His Korean friend had found her in a dumpster and she stunk like garbage, the poor thing was so scared when we picked her up to take her to the vet, that she managed to get under the seat of his car and it took us about 15 minutes to get her out. The cat had clearly been through a lot, she was very thin and small and even the vet was unable to guess her age stating that she was probably a little older than she looked but was severly malnourished (he placed her at about a year old). Her meow, when she did meow which was not very often, was very strange and gargled and we thought that the cat would have a lot of behavioural problems due to prior severe neglect.
She was this tiny, black and gray tabby and she had this big bushy tail that was completely disproportionate to her body, because of her big bushy tail the Fireman's Korean friends said we should call her Taramee, which is a play on the word Taramchee which means squirrel in Korean. And so Taramee came into our lives.
When the Fireman moved back to L.A. he could not take back both Taramee and Niko (our joint custody cat) and requested that I take them both into my house. Well Taramee was not having any of this, the poor cat was spooked about the move and would hiss at Niko and anyone else who got close to her. So we finally decided that we would have to separate the two cats, much to the fireman's dismay, but it had to be done.
Taramee went to my aunt, who was very unsure at first of this whole cat deal. Very quickly, however, the two of them bonded. I have never regretted my decision to give Taramee to my aunt- Taramee flourished in that environment, she became more vocal, she put on much needed weight and generally you could just tell that she was a very happy cat. I know my aunt loved Taramee very much and I am aboslutely sure that Taramee loved her back, in a way that I've never seen a cat love a human.
Tonight, Taramee passed away. I do not know the words to say to my aunt at a time like this, I cannot imagine this happening to my own Niko and I can only begin to understand the emptiness that losing one's loved pet can cause. I do believe it is like losing a member of one's family. I just hope my aunt knows deep down that her presence in Taramee's life was a blessing, and was the best thing that could happen to that little pussy cat. I have never seen an animal flourish so much in such a short period of time. Auntie H. -the important thing to remember is the pain will lessen but the wonderful and funny memories of Taramee will always stay.