How do you grapple with losing the best music listening companion you've ever had? My cat, Sylvia, lost her battle against kidney and liver diseases this morning. I've felt overwhelming grief and sadness over losing the sweetest cat I could ever have adopted.
I've written before about the songs that I think fit Sylvia's personality best. During our 11 years and change together, I found that Sylvia was easy to please when it came to music. Not once did she twitch her ears, look at me oddly, or meow angrily at the stereo. She would purr happily whether I was playing Joni Mitchell's "Free Man In Paris," Stevie Wonder's "Es Una Historia (I Am Singing)," or Beethoven's seventh symphony.
We both loved it when I'd sit on the floor by the record player. Regardless of what music I was playing, Sylvia would run over, jump in my lap, and purr. The Boorays, The Drifters, Basia...It didn't matter what I chose. As long as she could sit with me and listen to it, she was happy. We should all be so eager to please.
I like that iTunes categorizes the recordings I've made of Sylvia and my family's other cats meowing and purring as songs. To me, they are songs; they're more personal, heartfelt, and musical than any mass-produced flavor of the week hit. Hearing Sylvia emit a three-toned request for food or an elaborate circular scale of notes when she wants water from the kitchen sink is as musical to me as any birdcall...
...and I look forward to savoring Sylvia's recorded warbling for the rest of my life.
