Today my 23 year old cat Jasper passed away. I'm just feeling sad. I miss him sitting in my lap. Jasper was with me when I lived in Berkeley, then San Francisco, and then Petaluma. My son's first word was CAT uttered with crystal clarity when he was 8 months old. His crib, which was in my bedroom, had a mesh tent over it to keep the cats out (read that to mean Jasper) and Jasper used to jump on top and stare down at my son. That night, Jasper jumped on top of the crib tent, stared down, and my son said, Cat.

Despite how much he looks Siamese, in this picture taken when he was younger, he's a Tonkinese, which is a cross between Siamese and Burmese. Obviously he takes after the Siamese part. I got him cheap because his eyes are not quite the neon blue they should have been.

It's hard to lose a pet. We all miss him here.

Labels: Jasper