Zoey

2009 - 2023

In 2009 I was on Facebook and saw that a friend of mine from high school posted that her cat had kittens, and the littlest calico kitten caught my eye. I was in a position where I could adopt a cat, and traveled down to my hometown to bring Zoey into my life. She’s had dozens of roommates both human and feline, protested through at least 6 moves around town, and has been with me through the best and worst times of my life. I was 22 and barely figuring out my life, and we grew up together. There were days where she was my only reason to get out of bed in the morning, and as much as I took care of her, she also took care of me.

We acquired additional friends over the years—Sheldon, Winston, and most recently Princess Pizza. She and Sheldon were respected colleagues, she tolerated Winston’s need to try and cuddle with her, and her and Princess Pizza were slowly warming up to one another in their short time together. They’d hang out on the couch together snoozing, Yusuf Brown and I called the two of them our little golden girls.

Zoey was an investigator—open dresser drawers was a space to sneak into and curl up in. She’d try to find the highest spot in the room to climb up to. When we were in the kitchen cooking, she’d climb up on our stepstool to watch us. She loved bathroom sinks and listening to the shower from a tub ledge.

She wasn’t a cuddler, but she wanted to share space with you. In the mornings if she wasn’t already sleeping at the foot of the bed she’d greet me to say good morning when she knew I was awake. I have a window perch in my office where she would doze in the sun while I worked. We had a routine during lockdown, where she’d wait for me in my desk chair to come in and open the blinds for her.

Ironically, in the last few days she started letting me hold her and cuddle her, and I knew in my heart it was her way of telling me she was getting tired.

Those who knew her know how she was, and she got to meet so many people even if it’s not what she would have preferred. She could be a hissy lady, a little grumpy girl, but she was a good girl and I’m going to miss her terribly.

“Goodbye goodbye goodbye, you were bigger than the whole sky, you were more than just a short time”