Forever Loved, Never Forgotten

Patches Lee Goodman

July 1991 - June 2011

Loved; Forever and Always

Rest in Peace, Princess Patchy

Today was a very sad day for my family; Patches passed away after almost twenty wonderful years. I always knew this day would come, and in the back of my mind, knew that it was getting closer and closer. At the same time, I kind-of thought it might not come because she had been with us for so long. She seems to encompass the ability to live forever. Unfortunately, as stupid as it sounds, I learned the hard way that no one lives forever.

I remember the day we got Patches. We drove to a little house on a farm where she was waiting for us. She was so cute with her little pink nose. I fell in love immediately. We brought her home in a little cardboard box and I will always remember her peeking her little nose out of it the entire drive back to our house. She was so tiny.

If I had to describe her in one word it would be "sweet" because that is exactly what she was. She was such a sweet little girl. She was feisty when she was a kitten, but grew sweeter and sweeter with age. She just had the ability to make you smile and feel loved. I will miss that about her. I will truly miss that.

My parents and I loved her dearly. Below are just a few of the fond memories or quirks I loved about our sweet baby girl...

Patches loved to drink water out of the shower. She would meow loudly until you would turn the water on to a slow drip so she could get a nice, fresh drink of water.

She was definitely known for throwing up, a lot. My family and I always found it so funny because she always seemed to put it in the funniest places. The funniest, on my dad's putting green. He has one set up in the basement of their home and she would always seem to find that and puke on it as if to say, "Hey, quit all this golfing and feed us."

Patches was a little fire cracker in her day and we will never forget the time she beat up our neighbors dog, Crackers. He would run over onto our deck and taunt her because he knew that she couldn't get outside. It seriously drove her nuts, but one day she happened to get out and where did she go? Straight over to our neighbors house and she definitely got Crackers back. She was up on her hind legs slapping Crackers faster than you could even count. I think she was pretty proud of herself when she came back home.

As she grew older she seemed to always be hungry. She never gained any weight, but could eat as if she were a 20 pound cat. The funniest part of this is that she would situate herself in front of my dad so that he would have to look at her with those piercing green eyes of hers. She wouldn't go away until he fed her. I love the fact that my dad had such a soft heart for her. He would always make jokes about how she drove him crazy when she wanted to be fed all the time, but what would he do? He would get up everytime and say, "Okay Little Patchy Cat, I'll feed you ONE more time." This went on until the day she passed. He loved that little cat with his whole heart. I love that about him.

She was a VERY smart cat as well. She could pull open doors with her little paw and outsmart my parents at times. I love the story of when her and Calvin, my parents other cat, would team up together to try and get my parents out of bed around 3:00 in the morning to bed fed. My parents obviously didn't want to get woken up this early so they would try and ignore the fact that they were jumping on the bed, walking over their faces, scratching at the doors and doing anything else in their power to get them up. Well, one morning my mom got so annoyed that she starting tossing pillows from the bed at them to get them to stop scratching at the door. Patches, being the smarty pants that she was, decided that she would then go to the OTHER side of the door to do this. This way, when my mom through pillows, they couldn't hit her. I think my parents eventually got up because she was just too cute.

I could go on forever and ever with memories of this sweet little girl. She will forever and always be my favorite pet. She knew me almost my entire life, up until now, and that definitely counts for something in my book. She was there for me through thick and thin. She always knew when something was bothering me because when I would cry or be upset she was always right by my side. Through every break up, bad day and beyond.

"Patches, today was one of the hardest days of our lives. Watching you slowly drift off was something I never wanted to see but I did it for you. I didn't want you to be alone when you went to Heaven because I knew you deserved so much more. I kissed your until your last breath and mom gave you a little head rub like you always loved. I imagine that was the best way for you to go, you loved your head rubs. We will never forget you, Patches, and I know you will be waiting for us in Heaven when we get there. I love you and I hope this sadness will pass soon so I can just remember the happy times. As these tears roll down my face, realize that you made such an impact on our lives. You are, and always will be, the best little cat in the world."

If anyone is reading this, I just ask for your prayers that this gets easier for me. I know the pain will never fully go away, but I have a very big heart for animals and especially my own. I'm grieving as though I've lost a human family member and this is not easy.

Bryana