Comic Reviews by Walt

It’s been 25 months. December 7, 2017 was one of THE worst days of my life. It was the day I had to make "that" decision, and was the last day I had this wonderful, loving, gentle, beautiful cat here on Earth.

Ziggy came into my life on a September day in 2010, and over the next 7 years + 3 months became one of the best parts of my life.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 months without this little guy.

I couldn’t cite the day and date the photo below was taken, BUT I remember the moment itself–I was sitting at this very desk where I am now (albeit different chair and different computer) and he’d come over to me, got up against my leg, and meowed at me. He wanted a treat, and knew I kept some in the drawer, and would often "cave" to his begging. (Chloe often seemed to put him up to it, too–lounging off to the side UNTIL treats were out, then racing over to "cut" in line!).

Just that earnest look on his face, and those big eyes. And that little bit of white fur at his nose. I always remember my aunt Karen loving that about him, and it was her calling attention to it that made me notice it, and it remained a distinctive feature about him (one of too many to properly list).

Here’s Ziggy stretched out on a cat bed–just one of those cheap ones from Walmart–but I love this pic; he just looks so content there in it. Though it’s one of the FEW times I remember him using it specifically. Sarah-cat uses it most nights now…I hadn’t even remembered Ziggy using it,, so let Sarah have it when I found it buried in a corner with some boxes last year. Some of her similarities to Ziggy let me know it’s a good match.

Here’s Ziggy just sprawled on a blanket on a bed.

And here’s Ziggy, Prince of the House…ruling from on high, seated on his mighty throne.

And here he is waiting for me to go downstairs with him whenever that was (sometime between Fall 2015 and Spring 2017–I know by the blank wall!)

And here’s Ziggy on the stairs themselves. He never got to experience the "wall of art". Sometimes I think part of my embracing covering-the-walls was to differentiate them; to give a different "feel" to descending into the basement…

And here’s a collage of Ziggy in a stack of short-box-shells. I’m pretty sure these were after I’d bought a couple of wire racks to replace the cardboard-ONLY setup; but then these became a semi-permanent part of my setup to this day for storage (not that one can tell anymore).

I continue to feel rather morbid, observing ‘anniversaries’ of the day I had to say goodbye.

It’s absolutely NOT any sort of "celebration" but I think it’s a way for me to mark the passage of time. I made it another month, I made it another year, I’ve SOMEHOW made it 25 months without my Ziggy.

Over 30 years into comics, and much of the ’90s especially saw comics make a huge deal out of the round numbers. Celebrate 12 issues, the series lasted a year! Celebrate 13, it’s the second year of the title! And then the 25s–25, 50, 75, 100…

I’d posted (personal Facebook account) weekly batches of photos as I made it week by week. After 52 weeks, I forced myself to pull back to monthly. And here, in this (comics) blog, I’ve posted some, but nothing with regularity.

But just as I’m more and more disgusted with modern comics practices…it feels like…I don’t know. I can’t even find the word I’m looking for (and this is all stream of conscious typing, so your mileage may vary on spelling/formatting/etc).

Ziggy was one of the best parts of my life. And while comics have long celebrated these round number milestones…it’s "observing" that that I allowed myself this post. Because where those are celebrating stuff…this uses that as a frame of reference. All those comics series celebrated making it that far.

While here, I regret the fact that I’ve HAD TO exist this far, without my beloved kitty.

25 months.

1 day, 1 week, 1 month at a time.

One breath at a time.

Filed under: 2020 Non-Review Posts, 2020 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: pet loss, pets, Ziggy |