Tyler

When Eleanor was around 5, when we lived in Bay Minette, Emily found a cat in the woods. She fed him and got to know him, and we decided to catch him and take him to the vet. We got his ear tipped in case we never saw him again. Dr. Biles took off a lot, it made him look like a pirate.

We did see him again, though. He stayed around the house, and was our outside cat. We named him Tyler. He brought Emily all manner of dead things as gifts, and left them on the garage doormat.

When we moved to Tuscumbia, he came too, and became an inside cat. He got a taste of how soft beds are, and he never wanted to leave. He ended up with a favorite toy named Ratty Ivey.

He made the road trip to Connecticut with us and got to stay in fancy hotels. Quite a step up from the woods in Alabama. He got to discover how great radiators are in the winter. He got to throw Ratty down the stairs and carry him around. He joined Emily for meditation and was really good at it. He got to really enjoy being a Connecticut cat.

His kidney disease accelerated super quickly the past few days, and today we said goodbye. We’re so lucky we got to do that at home, in the bed where he loved to be.

He was a wonderful cat, and we will miss him so much.