Dexter, part 1
Last weekend, we lost our sweet little kitty cat, Dexter. By the vet’s estimate, he was approximately three and a half years old.
He came to us at a time when we weren’t particularly looking for a cat. It was fourth of July and we were hanging out in our friend Rob’s backyard after coming back from watching fireworks downtown. A young orange cat showed up and alternated between getting pettings from us, jumping up into Josh’s lap, and running around Rob’s backyard. We hung out there for a few hours, exclaiming over what a friendly cat he was and resolving that if he left Rob’s yard, that would be that, but if he had still stuck around by the time we were ready to leave, we would take him home with us. A few hours later, he was still there. My SLR camera was having issues that night, and this was one of the few pictures that I got before it died.
He did not like the car ride home, but once we got there, he chilled back out and started to explore. I got a few more pictures with my older digital camera (which was on it’s way to dying, which is why these pics look a bit odd).
He began to settle right in to his new home. It’s hard to explain what was so great about Dexter. Some cats are standoffish, and it takes an excessive amount of patience and cajoling to get them to let you pet them just a little. Other cats are so into being petted that they are just completely non-discriminating in their desire to get attention. Any person who comes along is met with the same level of harassment, which can get a bit annoying after a while. Dexter was the perfect balance between the two; he was happy to accept affection but laid back enough that he rarely demanded it. He was also surprisingly okay with being held, more than any other cat that I have ever encountered.
He also loved to just be near us as we went about our day. This led to a few favorite hangout spots around the condo where he could keep us company as we went about our daily routines:
He wasn’t perfect, he would bug me when he was bored and I was working on the computer upstairs (usually by batting at my hand on the mouse), and he destroyed a few of our (and his) things:
But overall, he was just such a joy to have in our lives.
(continued in part 2)
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