Farwell My Friend... Thanks for being there!

My dear beloved cat BayLee has vanished into thin area. He has been gone since 12/7. Jason came home late one night and BayLee was asleep beside me. That is the last I saw my friend. I do remember waking up twice in the middle of the night and BayLee was no longer beside me. I had this unusual nagging feeling to go check on BayLee to see where he is at because he rarely leaves my side. I didnt follow my intuition and continued to sleep until it was time to go to work. I will forever regret that decision. I came to find out later that BayLee had escaped out of the garage when Jason came home. According to Jason's account of the story, BayLee ran across the street and never looked back. Jason and I have looked and looked for him. We have covered the area where we live, hung up signs, fliers on mailboxes, ads on craigslist/newspaper, and many visits to the vets and Humane Society. We have not had any luck. We have had a very close call but it ended up being a cat with many mannerism like BayLee but it wasnt him. No matter how much I wanted it to be him... it wasnt.. it hurt..

When we moved BayLee became unglued. This is not BayLee's first move. He has had other moves before. Possibly due to his advancing age he just didnt like it at all. He had a complete personality change. He has never been one to cause damage or break things but when we moved he decided to let loose. At the end of the day, we really didnt care we still loved him the same. BayLee was more like a dog than a cat he truly loved you back and most cats are not that way. When I would come home from those long trips from Alabama, he would be waiting in the window for me.When I first brought him home I had a dog and BayLee would snuggle up to the dog and look up at him like he was saying "Are you my mother?" The dog didnt like it too much but he adapted to BayLee. Since I adopted BayLee I have felt like he took care of me more than I took care of him. If someone was at the door he growled at them like a dog would. You just were not going to get past BayLee and to me if your intentions were not good. At times, Jason and I would argue like most couples, BayLee was right in between us like he was there to protect and add his two cents. BayLee wasnt afraid of anything or anybody he was ready to fight whenever he felt it was needed. One of my fondest memories is when my nephews had a bowling kit and everytime they would roll the ball towards the pins out came BayLee to assist in knocking the pens over. BayLee is helpful that way.... :)

I dont know what happened to BayLee. I have many theories. To be honest the theory I believe the most is that he is no longer on this earth. There are many wooded areas around here and wildlife so it is possible. Someone brought to my attention that maybe he was sick and went off to die. With the move BayLee became so irritable and his behavior was so odd he just wasnt himself.Another theory is that Jason be lives is that one of the neighbors is holding him hostage. I laughed and said they will not hold him long he is so bad.

I am learning to accept it... To animal lovers everywhere you know exactly what I am talking about. The hurt you feel and the mourning you must do is very similar to losing a very close human friend. I adore my little scrappy devil and I miss him terribly every minute of the day. We will continue to search for him but we know he may never be back and we must not dwell on the loss.

The only thing that seems to have brought me comfort is that while my father was in the hospital I read many books from the hospital bookstore. One book I read was about cats and it discussed how animals come to us in our time of need. The lady discussed how a cat come to her and adopted her when she needed the cat. The cat later disappeared and she couldnt find the cat. A couple of years later she found out that the cat had moved in when a child two doors down who was suffering from cancer. She explained that the cat was there for her when she needed him but moved on to someone who needed him more. I am going to dig out that book if I still have it and read it again. I have always believed if you rescue an animal they will rescue you right back over and over again. That is exactly what BayLee did for me. BayLee might feel that I can stand on my own and his services and love are no longer needed and he has served his time.. But BayLee couldnt be more wrong I still need him. I mean who is going to help me raise this baby!