Calvin

Mum called me Thursday night, Calvin passed away.
I guess with a cat 19 years old it wasn’t necessarily unexpected, but the thought of him actually being gone is so strange. This cat has been in my life for 19 years. I mean, look at what a baby I am in this pic with him as a kitten.

I mentioned to my dad, it’s kind of strange we even have these photos of him as a kitten, but I’m so, so glad I do. At our first house, our next door neighbor had a cat who he never got fixed. And the cat had two or three litters of kittens while we lived there. We’d go out and play with the kittens and give them milk and treats until they’d all been adopted. The last group, for some reason, we took pictures of. And that was the group Calvin came from.

Who would have guessed that one of those kittens we’d taken pictures of, we’d take with us when we moved a few months later and he would live with us for nearly two decades?

He was such a funny cat. ALWAYS talking. You could always find him by meowing.

He put up with our dog Molly, and then Indy, and then Kes.

And with Hobbes, of course.

Calvin loved being outside, and when he was younger, he’d hunt. One time he disappeared for three months. We thought he was gone for good. During that time, Hobbes was killed. The very next day, my dad heard Calvin meowing from across the field, and there he came out of nowhere, my dad went running across the yard to him. We couldn’t believe our eyes when he came inside with Calvin.