Goodbye, Twinkle Berry Smith....

Today we lost our 20 year old kitty, Twinkie. Our hearts are heavy as we say goodbye to our ornery, independent, and loyal family member...

A good sport, while being dressed up.

An attempt at a family Christmas pic. One where the dog is not trying to eat the cat!

This one needs no explanation...

Twinkie was abandoned as a few weeks old kitten. Found and hand fed by my sister Kim, and named by my 2 year old niece, Lacie. When she was about 2 years old she went to live with my boyfriend(later to be my hubby) Sam, and his family. There she lived until Sam and I got married and built our home. She was a very unique cat. Not overly loving in any way. She was truly the BOSS. A cat that never rubbed against a leg searching for attention, or knew what to do outside. She would duck as birds flew over her head. Her world changed when we introduced her to our baby girl in 2001, and then again in 2004 with the arrival of "the dog". I had many regrets after getting Dobie, because Twink then chose to live downstairs as a total recluse for a year or two, only to sneak up for food or a nighttime cuddle initiated by her and ONLY her. She was our first "kid". Those of you who have had pets before children know how much your pets become your children. Then those "children" are replaced by cute little drooling totally dependent children. When we realized Ashlyn would be our only cute little drooling child, we chose to adopt a dog. A "brother" for Ashlyn. The dog was a perfect fit for all of us, except Twink. Dobie was a puppy and wanted to play. Twink was an old cat that wasn't very friendly. The two were like oil and water. She learned to tolerate Dobie and steer clear of him, except those times when we were in the room, and she knew the dog would get a yelling at for bugging the cat. She was a tease. She did get a few breaks when we would go on vacation, she would get a vacation from Dobie. She loved going to Grandma and Grandpa Blackham's house. Her health had been declining over the last 6 months, with a diagnosis of congestive heart failure. She required meds for the last 4 months of her life. She did not seem to suffer until the last few days.... Her breathing became difficult and she would not eat much. I prayed her heart would give out and stop while she was sleeping. My prayer was answered when we found her this morning "asleep". Our family is devastated. I knew she wasn't going to live much longer, I though I was "prepared". I had no idea how much this cat touched my heart. We will miss her immensely, were lucky to have her in our family for so long.....We can only hope we touched her life and that she knew how much we loved her, despite all the annoyances we added to her very long pampered life :)