goodbye bodie... we love you!

bodie cat... oh sweet bodie cat!

we never knew bodie as a kitten, she was our neighbour's cat when we lived in kelmarna avenue in 2003. smart as, she soon discovered a quiet refuge on our deck, away from the tail pulling of two boistrous wee boys. 'home' for tea, gradually changed to a sly 'move in', reluctant to start feeding her, we broke the rule one day when we were offered a cat bikkie freebie at the supermarket... why not we thought... it won't hurt... we started calling her rental, we didn't even know her real name, in our minds we were not doing anything wrong, we were merely renting the neighbour's cat...

two years passed and then we had to move, our landlord was selling, it was a crisis! how were we going to leave rental behind. faced with only one option, cat thieves we are not, we came clean to the neighbours, we fessed all. they laughed, they knew, they told us her name... bodicea. we thought she was a kitten, she was a lot older, they explained that she was actually kate's brothers cat, they would ring him and see if he was happy that bodicea changed homes. it was a week of anxious 'is she, isnt she', nightly conversations on the topic of catnapping, the wait finally ended, the night before we moved we got the news, the rental days were over, bodicea was to become bodi... our bodie cat.

turns out, if there was one thing bodie hated, it was change. move a chair, move a cushion, get a new piece of furniture... she hated it. oh the change she endured. the initial move to hamilton road, then on to westmere road and then to her final resting place, our own home two and a half years ago... tolerated. then, a few months later, the ultimate test of change... doyle's arrival on a sunny saturday afternoon (we had only gone out to get cat food!)... patiently tolerated.

doyle has grown up with bodie, she's been his companion, his nemisis, his teacher. we named doyle because of bodi, she was the inspiration. we altered the spelling from bodi to bodie, they were the professionals, despite their differences they made a great team.

our last photo of bodie on wednesday evening...

1pm, 27th august 2009, bodie past away in craig's arms, at home, with doyle, unassisted, it was peaceful. bodie is still with us at home, at rest under a lisbon lemon tree... she will always be with us. we miss you bodie... you changed our lives for the better, no tolerance required!

the last goodbye...

bodie was bright.

bodie was beautiful.

bodie was brave.

bodie was the best.

we loved you bodie cat, you were a great friend!