MUCH LOVED...GREATLY MISSED...

It's raining again (so what's new you may ask?) and I want to get home. I have got things to do at home such as "melingkar" like a python on the bed with a good book and a bag of pistachios. Ahhh!!! Heaven....

However as I had mentioned earlier, it's raining...on a Friday evening no less...which means that the roads will resemble parking lots and everybody will be in a foul temper, rushing to get home or to pick up their kids or rushing...just rushing...

Stop and smell the roses!!! Roses? Where? Well...I've got a few happily blooming away by the side of the porch at the house in Puncak Alam and my ibu's got a few as well, lovely big red blooms. But I digress...

I was looking through photos taken during Eid last year and came across some of "Tom-Tom", my ibu's much loved mongrel of a kitty. He was a good little cat, not prone to outbursts of temper, seldom unsheathed his claws and tolerated Amira (that cyclone of a little girl who is my niece) no matter how she deemed it fit to treat him [ie. as a pillow or an ottoman or a cushion or a furry, stuffed (but still breathing) toy...well, you get the picture].

Amira and Tom-Tom who was slowly inching away...(Tom-Tom was probably thinking "I'd better get away while she's distracted by that flashy, shiny thingy!")

I have to admit I took him for granted. He was always there when I went home to Mantin. So I thought he would always be there. I'd spend some time with him but not much...I was always busy...rushing...too many things to do in such a short period of time.

Tom-Tom trying to ensure that I have his scent on me...musky, a little woody...all cat.

Favourite pose...slightly raunchy though.

Oh my...oh my, my...putting the family jewels on display are we?

A bird's eye view of the cat's "bird-bird"...tongue twister?...you betcha!

A few weeks after Eid, my ibu told me that he had not come home for two days...which then stretched to three, then four, five...days turned to weeks, to months. I guess we won't be seeing him again, dear "Tom-Tom", the un-assuming and extremely tolerant little cat who was much loved by my ayah and ibu and the family as a whole.

"Why is she back? I thought ayah, ibu and I got rid of her when we married her off..."

Handsome...


Who can resist those liquid eyes?

Now I wish that I had hugged him more, maybe spent more time playing with him, maybe just a little bit more time looking into that furry face...I wish I was not rushing through life so much that I could not have spent more time with him. He was a living, breathing creation of Allah who had graced our home and him not being around has left a gap. I read somewhere that cats leave "pawprints" on your heart. Tom-Tom did that and we miss him...a lot. Of course they'll be other cats...I should know...I have had cats all my life...but each is special in its own way...and each will have a special place in your heart...even if you have another one or another 101 cats.

Sleepy little cat.

Let's not have regrets...do what you must with your life...rush if you have to...but if you are sharing your life with one of Allah's four legged creations...remember that one day they may not be there waiting for you when you get home...so spare them some "more" of your extra time, give them extra hugs, extra love...

Stop and smell the roses...connect with friends...don't forget family...or that musky little furry creature on four legs that's looking up at you with so much love...

Sleep little cat...till we meet again.

Tom-Tom, wherever you are...you are missed...love you...