Saturday, February 24, 2007

Are there animals in heaven? R.I.P. Joshua

This is a question I have wondered about for years. I have asked many people from scholars to the regular Joe. My ex father-in-law, says there will be no animals in heaven. However, I have found many passages in the Bible saying otherwise.

I'm not sure this is how it works, but I have always had a picture, so to speak, of what happens when you die. Being a diehard Lutheran, we never really spoke of death and dying. It wasn't until I was working in a nursing home that I began to wonder what happened at the moment of one's death. I have come to the conclusion that when you die, you are either with Jesus in Heaven or in Hell. I believe there will be an ultimate judgement day, however, in the meantime, I would like to think my loved ones and pets are in heaven. I'm probably way off base, but it's my delusion, so please don't try to pop my bubble.

The reason I bring this up is last evening, I lost Joshua. Most of you may remember Joshua from previous blogs. She was my grandmother's cat. Yes, Joshua was a SHE. I owned her mother, Dutchess. So of course, Nannie needed a pet once Dutchess became a mother. And me being so young, thought the furball was just that, balls. So I gave my Nannie a "boy", who turned out to be a girl when it was time to get fixed. (this reminds me of Tammy's transexual cat "Ms. Kitty, another story for another time) We are still trying to pin down Joshua's exact year of birth, I know I was in the 8th grade. So, it was either 87 or 88.

Joshua and I had a love/hate relationship. To be exact, most days I hated that skinny furball and she loved me. Great thing about animals, they love you no matter what. I believe it's called unconditional love. When I first picked Joshua up, she hissed and bit at me. My first thought were "you ungrateful little wench, I'm giving you a home". For months, I thought this cat hated me. Come to find out, all she needed was a little coaxing. Me being me, was bound and determined to make this cat like me and eventually she did. I became her companion when no one else was home. She was company for me too. Even though she was a skinny ass furball who needed grooming constantly, I could always count on her being there. And it all came to an end yesterday.

I'm not sure if yesterday when I found her, I grieved more for her or for the loss of my last link to my beloved Nannie. I completely lost it. I sat in the middle of my kitchen floor literally wailing to the top of my lungs. Somehow I managed to call Steve to tell him what was happening and Johnny, who was just as devestated as I. It seemed like just minutes and Steve was there. I sat and cried and watched her life slowly slip away. Just as I did my Nannie's almost 11 years ago. Joshua did things her way to the end, just as I would have expected her to.

I hope Joshua is now with my Nannie. I just hope there are no blizzards, because poor Joshie would get the boot because "she's never seen snow"...

To wrap this up, I want to thank Steve. He went way above the call of duty as a boyfriend yesterday. Lord knows I couldn't have sat with the world's largest producer of snot and a dying cat. So, baby, thank you, for everything. And Joshua, thank you for being my kitty, if only for a little while.

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