| Fred's
Page- Looking Back Freddy was probably born on June 4, 2003, or maybe June 24. I met Fred on August 3, 2003, the same day my heart and soul, Rock the Gentleman cat:  died at the hospital at the age of nearly 17. Rock is pictured above on the drive home from Florida in 2002. Here Rock is helping to install my UNGO car alarm in 2001:  and here is Rock in his carrier on the way to Florida in 2002: 
I am only sorry that I don't have more pictures to remember Rock, and I am grateful for the pictures I have. (Thanks Matt!) So I called upon all my friends and my car lists to pray for Rock, and then to help me with Fred. I should mention here the legion of friends- and strangers- who were helping me through this, sharing with me the stories of the animals they had loved and lost and found, and how they made it through their loss. I made a little presentation of their letters here. I can't express my thanks enough for these letters, and point anyone who has lost an animal to PeggyB's letter about Rainbow Bridge. It still keeps me breathing some days. I promised to keep in touch with everyone about Fred and my progress. I managed to stay in touch during the 2 week blackout 10 days after Fred came home in 2003, but 2 months later our home was destroyed by fire, and I fell out of touch with everyone. Fred and I moved 6 times in 2 years. It was hard to stay in touch with anyone or even to stay together with Fred. The insurance company wanted to put Fred in a kennel. So by way of catching up, here is an 11 minute video of Fred's life from August 3, 2003- to November 4, 2006: Click here for the 25 MG Windows Media movie. The music is Miles Davis' "Freddie the Freeloader", Eartha Kitt's "Freddy" and some Three Stooges. It's been all GO GO GO GO GO for the last three years, and now I am finally catching up. THANK YOU to everyone who helped me and cares about Fred the Kitten, later known as "Fred the Terrible", and too often known as "Fred the Destroyer". (oh, but he's so cute... and so lovable... when he isn't driving me crazy waking me up at 4am and breaking stuff.) This cat is NOT Rock. Fred does a fine job of keeping my mind and body busy in the present, and keeping me laughing, kinda like Fred Sessler. These days he is the only one who could. As we approach Thanksgiving in 2006, I am very grateful. This is where I left off in October 2003: Surely one cat does not replace another, no cat or kitten will ever replace Rock in anyone's heart, especially mine. We went with open minds, not knowing if we would find our animal that day, if it would be a cat or a dog or two or three or an iguana or a monkey. We met Freddy at the second place we went looking, the first was the ASPCA, which I heartily recommend for a visit. In NYC, the ASPCA is a "no-kill" shelter, as I understand the Humane Society is as well. The animals have a pretty decent living situation there, caring staff, bright and sunny and playful, not a death camp. We left the ASPCA guilt free having left a donation and getting a lot of hope. It was comforting to see cats that looked similar to Rock, and there were kittens but they were all female - there were some kittens being prepared for spay/neutering that we were going to come see later. Rock's Daddy is Dean, one of the best pals and people I know on Earth. We went looking together. Next stop, the Center for Veterinary Care. Here they had one of two found kittens left. They brought him into a room, I took one look at his little clown face and I knew. I looked at Dean and before I could say anything, Dean said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?". Dean had been pushing me to check out some kittens a friend had but all thoughts of other kittens were pushed out of our heads by Freddy's big hairy paws. His name came from a Rock and Roll animal I knew who died in December of 2000. You can read more about Fred Sessler, Freddy's namesake:  At Sound Check before the Rolling Stones Show 
At the Stage at the Rolling Stones Show in any rock and roll book you have on your shelf. We came out to the receptionist to claim our kitten and found Jane Rose, Keith Richards' manager waiting for her dog. Jane was a friend of Freddy's (or arch-rival depending on the day and who you'd ask). A sign maybe. Anyway, we were going home with this kitten. Not so fast... they would not let us take the kitten. The rescuer wanted to have final say over who adopts the kitten and she wasn't available. Well, find her. Either this kitten was coming home with me, or I would be staying at the hospital with the kitten, nothing was going to separate us. And to be truthful, I needed this kitten. The loss of my beloved cat was overwhelming and nothing except Freddy was able to distract me from shedding huge salty tears and reliving every moment of Rock's last weeks wondering if I could have, if I only could have... done something different and still have Rock with me. After 90 minutes of holding a kitten in a waiting room (try that some time... it aint easy) they found the rescuer and she relented. And so we came home, and Freddy settled right in to Rock's old toys and gear. It was as if Rock had set up house for Freddy, and Fred appreciated it. Freddy was so tiny he would disappear into spaces between books on shelves, into the crack between the stone and the kitchen sink cabinet, into holes the idiot contractors had left in my walls. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~ Fred did have one adventure in the Z3 when we went to Vintage Fest at LimeRock in September 2003.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| met Freddie the Firecat since November 4, 2006 :) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esmerelda's Home Page~ Z3ers.com
© Rachel Corey Katz all rights reserved
|
