Rest In Peace Miss Ophelia

Well the day came today when we had to put our lovely cat, Miss Ophelia, to sleep. She had feline intestinal peritonitis and has been sick for quite a few weeks now but up until today she had been doing okay. This morning though things went downhill very fast and we made the very sad decision to have her euthanased.
She came to live with us eleven years ago after someone that Owen worked with found her in the underground carpark of the centre where he was working at the time. We assume she had been hit by a car because she had some trauma and had to have an absess drained but other than that she was in a pretty good condition. The girl that found her couldn't keep her so we adopted her and she came to live with us and our dog Bella and our cat Fredricko Alexander Rachmananoff (aka Rachi). She was a very shy kitten at first and very affectionate. She loved just lying up next to Owen on the lounge and at night we used to sleep with Rachi between us and Ophelia would sleep right up near our heads. She and Rachi got along well and Ophelia was soon pregnant!! Unfortunately Rachi got bitten by a snake and never got to see his beautiful little kittens. I was sitting watching TV one night and Ophelia came and let me know that she was ready to give birth to her kittens so I went and got a basket and some towels and was with her when she gave birth to her four precious babies, Benny, Tiger, Oprah and Samuel. She was a fantastic mother. Tiger, Oprah and Samuel were adopted out and Benny stayed with us but unfortunately he was hit by a car a couple of years later. Ophelia has always had a regal look to her and almost always carried herself with great dignity and poise. I say almost because every now and then she would just have a little wild spell where she would sprint across and scale the neighbours tree or the curtains in the lounge room or the Christmas tree. Many nights I had to get Owen to climb up onto the neigbours brick letterbox to pluck Ophelia down of the trellis. She was a very precious loving cat who will be greatly missed by us all.
My Mum also had her elderly cat, Mrs Avery, put to sleep too this week as she's hasn't been well either. Jack and I went to visit Mum on Thursday and give her a little gift to let her know we were thinking of her. We were out the back under her verandah and the back screen door banged and Jack said, "That's Mrs Avery, she's having her dinner" which of course was a bit upsetting. I'm sure we'll have some explaining to do in the next couple of days when Jack realises that Ophelia's not around.
We had promised Jack a trip to the beach today and after the sad morning we had it was good therapy for Owen and I to get out of the house and into the fresh air. The ocean is always good therapy for me but especially Cooee Bay. I have so so many great memories of this place. My Grandparents own a beach house and every school holiday was spent there. I know that I used to complain to my Mum that it was boring but now in adulthood I can close my eyes and put myself back there. Lazing in the sun chatting about boys and things with my cousin Julie, fishing with my brother Kevin, shell collecting with my Mum, Grandma and Aunt's and listening to the adult conversations, the whole family traipsing down for our morning swim and even Grandad used to occasionally take of his wooden leg and come down on crutches for a swim. It always used to uplift me seeing Grandad drop his crutches at the bottom of the track and hop down to the water and come for a swim with us and Grandma. It made me feel as though no matter what happens to you in life there will always be good times and that age and a disability like an amputated leg won't stop you from being able to just jump in the ocean and wash away your worries. The beach has always felt like therapy to me. I can remember just lying in bed at night after everyone was asleep, hanging my feet out the window to feel the cool breeze, listening to the waves rolling in. So that's how we spent our afternoon. Looking for shells, digging in the sand, sitting at the waters edge letting the waves wash over me and of course taking photos of Jack.