Rest In peace, John Wayne.
I never met him.
I’ve never met his mom.
His mom is the friend of a friend.
We became friends on Facebook. We bonded over our love for animals and that we both had cats. We had Jonesy, and now Hobbes. She had John Wayne. John Wayne was a tripod kitty, three legs. I know a couple of tripod kitties and let me tell you, being without a leg DOES NOT slow them down.
John Wayne’s mom and I would comment to each other, on Face messenger. I sent a lot of messages when he had a health scare a few years back. The scare was so serious that she really thought she was going to lose him. But because cats have a resiliency no one can really understand, John Wayne powered through and continued on. So much so, that he made several long distance trips with mom over the last couple of years. The latest was just a couple of weeks ago, down to see his grandparents in Florida.
Without getting into too much detail, John Wayne woke up Tuesday, unable to move. A visit to the vet revealed blood clots. The vet said there would be more, and there would be suffering. His mom couldn’t do that. She made the difficult decision to put him to sleep, yet she was there with him for the final moments.
I sobbed when I read her post. We all know how it feels to lose a pet. If we do it right, we’ll outlive all but one of our furry friends.
When I wrote her and tried to console her by letting her know she have given him a full and wonderful life and that they were both lucky to have each other, she said, that’s why it hurt so much, because she realized how lucky she was.
Never met him. But I will always think of him….
Rest In Peace John Wayne
4/18/2011 – 5/9/2023
