This Week Our Homeschool Flopped

So here we are again on the cusp of the end of another week of homeschooling.

Our homeschooling week was overpowered by one massive flop: our angel cat died.

This cat was special. I know everyone says that their cat is special. But this cat really was different. He did not behave like cats do.

He was born under a bush behind a grocery store and my brother-in-law befriended his mother and saved the whole litter as well as momma cat. And that is how our angel cat came to live with us. We knew he was different from the beginning. He had no meow, only a squeak. He communicated with head-bumps and meaningful looks. My children could grab him round the middle and tote him to a favorite chair and he was always happy and willing to provide company.

The kids called him a friend animal. His day was filled with visits to hang with the dog, rescuing that poor hound when he got stuck in my son’s bedroom (the cat could open and close doors), and stints communing in the cage with the guinea pig (she would purr a guinea pig purr each time he came in for a visit).

He was a protector. Strangely, he never cared about other cats in the yard or squirrels on the porch, his focus was on his family. We got this cat at a time when my kids really needed healing. He healed them. He made it his focus to watch over them. Every night, he was in their room. Whenever they were sad or scared, he came for a snuggle and a head bump.

Each morning when we began our homeschooling day, our cat was there. He would sit in a lap and listen during reading time. He insisted on participating in art and science and math lessons.

The only time he abandoned his duties, was when the flax blossomed in the front yard and he would escape for a day or two to sit under the elderberry bushes and snack on fresh flax (his favorite treat and perhaps the reason that he and the guinea pig were friends: they shared a common interest).

He was a healthy cat in the prime of middle age. His favorite spot was the top of the lounger in the living room, where he could nap and watch over the kids during the day.

And then early Monday morning, just after I sat down at the computer in the morning with a cup of coffee, I heard a slump and that cry animals give when they are about to go. I jumped up and turned the corner into the living room to find the dog on the lounger looking over the top to the shelf behind. There was our cat. He had fallen off the back of the lounger to rest on the shelf, just a few inches below. But he was slumped in a bad way and he wasn’t able to move. I picked him up and he died in my arms. It was less than 60 seconds from happy, healthy cat to dead. I have had cats and dogs all my life and never seen anything like his passing. There was no pain. It was just time for him to go and so he did.

My husband and I are certain that we were blessed to have this angel cat who was called back from whence he came once my children did not need him any more. He watched over them and he saved their souls and helped to heal them at a time when they would have been lost without him.

And that was our flop for the week. We lost our homeschool mascot. Our angel cat is gone.

Now, did anyone have a funny (cause I could sure use one!)