Today we said goodbye to Lola. The cancer was too much for our little Bean. Elizabeth and I held her as she passed.

We got Lola in December 2009. We went to Pet Smart with Alex, who lived with us at the time. We went to simply get cat supplies, but the two of them just bolted off to look at the cats. EVEN THOUGH I TOLD THEM WE CAN’T COME HOME WITH MORE CATS. At the time, Elizabeth and I had two cats—Lucy and Maybellene–and Alex had Kitty Byrne. Anyway, I stayed away from their kitty ogling as long as I could, because I knew I’d be unable to resist. Eventually, I made it over their way, to see the cats they were looking at. Two in particular stood out—a boy tuxedo cat who was running around like a goofball, and a pretty gray long-haired gal who sat patiently and timidly amidst the chaos. And that was it. There was no way we were leaving either of them at the pet store, so we welcomed Bryan Eno (the tux) and Lola (the grey) home with us.

It took a little while for Lola to fully acclimate to the house. She never really bonded with any of the other cats. But a few years back, it just clicked between Lola and me. Most nights she’d curl up in my right arm and go to sleep. She had the most wonderful rumbly purr. In the last year or so she’d also bonded very closely with Elizabeth, getting especially snuggly while I’d be on one of my many frequent business trips. She was just a fluffy ball of love.

And, like all cats, she was weird. She didn’t really meow like most cats. I called it a Mars Attacks meow. More like a soft “ack ack” sound. She’d ack ack at us for food, or out the window at the birds. She was very good at hiding. Most mornings, we’d find her in the bathroom as one of us got out of the shower, her obviously checking to make sure we weren’t drowning. She was very adamant with her frequent headbutts—“pet me now” or “pay attention to me” or “hi I love you” etc. She liked watching the squirrel and bird shows on youtube. She shed like a son of a gun! (Though, the hairballs went down significantly once the vet had her start taking antacids—that was a great boost to her happiness.)

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