I just buried my oldest friend
Oct. 27th, 2005 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamidonWhen I first got Julia I had recently graduated from the CIA. I was in an apartment with 5 other people, none of us with the same schedule, none of whom I knew particularly well. My previous roommates had sublet the other rooms while i was finishing up at the Culinary. I was working odd hours and felt very lonely in a house full of people, when I realized I was a grownup...at least grownup enough to get myself a pet. Off I went to the Animal Rescue League of Boston where I wandered thru the kennels. There weren't that many kittens, loads of older cats, and one cat in the middle. She was about 4 months old, beautiful, face and body like a siamese, but black with tuxedo markings. She had the softest fur I ever felt on any animal, even a mink coat I felt once. I still have never felt a cat with fur that soft. She wasn't some agressive, needy cat begging for attention, begging to be brought home, she butted my hand and just stood near the front of the cage, letting me decide. Home she went where she spent 2 weeks hiding under various peoples beds. Eventually she came out and wandered the house. She was never a lap kitty, but sometimes she sat next to you. She loved windows. I named her Julia for Julia Child, and added Bast a few months later when my roomates developed erratic employment behavior and I put the electricity and phone in Julia's name.
We left Dighton St. for Cambridgeport, and just 2 other roommates, Eric and Lizzit. She settled in well, except for that small incident when she got into the walls when the landlord was working in the bathroom and it took us 6 hours to figure out where she was. She escaped the house for the first time and got stuck in a torrential downpour. She never was much for escaping outside after that. She never ate human food, ever. She gave![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
feste_sylvain her seal approval, much to my shock, and that gave him more of a shot with me than he knew. She put up with his presence in the apartment. feste_sylvain asked me to move in with him, but I had to choose between Julia and cigarettes, as he is allergic to both, I picked Julia. I was not much fun to live with the first month, but than Julia started to get a little wonky too. We quickly figured it out. Altho not a gregarious cat she needed daytime company so we went to get another cat. feste_sylvain fell in love with Haiku(at the same shelter) and brought him home. Julia spent 2 months on top of the Tetris machine until Haiku figured out how to climb it, and Julia had no peace after that.
Eventually we got married and bought a house in Acton. A brief experiment in letting the cats outdoors ended when Julia got chewed on by something nasty. She also developed compulsive behavior and started to pull the fur out from around the wound. This was when she got put on an antidepressant,Ellevil, which some of my other friends were already on. She was only on it for a year, but that year was stressful , what with us getting a dog, Otis, and having a baby, Alyssa.4 Years later we had another baby and Julia dealt with that, even tho she was off the antidepressants by then. Otis died, and we moved to the Littleton house, and she settled in nicely, finding a hidey hole beneath the cellar stairs, carpeted even. She lived the rest of her life out quietly, the way she always had. The last 6 months were not too good, and the last 2 weeks were downright horrible, but all in all she had a good life.
Julia had been a part of my life longer than anyone I know aside from family. She knew me a a lonely single working woman, a newlywed, a new mom, a suburban housewife, a clubgoing music fan, a chef with weird hours, all the incarnations of the last 17 years. I will greatly miss her.
We left Dighton St. for Cambridgeport, and just 2 other roommates, Eric and Lizzit. She settled in well, except for that small incident when she got into the walls when the landlord was working in the bathroom and it took us 6 hours to figure out where she was. She escaped the house for the first time and got stuck in a torrential downpour. She never was much for escaping outside after that. She never ate human food, ever. She gave
feste_sylvain her seal approval, much to my shock, and that gave him more of a shot with me than he knew. She put up with his presence in the apartment. feste_sylvain asked me to move in with him, but I had to choose between Julia and cigarettes, as he is allergic to both, I picked Julia. I was not much fun to live with the first month, but than Julia started to get a little wonky too. We quickly figured it out. Altho not a gregarious cat she needed daytime company so we went to get another cat. feste_sylvain fell in love with Haiku(at the same shelter) and brought him home. Julia spent 2 months on top of the Tetris machine until Haiku figured out how to climb it, and Julia had no peace after that.Eventually we got married and bought a house in Acton. A brief experiment in letting the cats outdoors ended when Julia got chewed on by something nasty. She also developed compulsive behavior and started to pull the fur out from around the wound. This was when she got put on an antidepressant,Ellevil, which some of my other friends were already on. She was only on it for a year, but that year was stressful , what with us getting a dog, Otis, and having a baby, Alyssa.4 Years later we had another baby and Julia dealt with that, even tho she was off the antidepressants by then. Otis died, and we moved to the Littleton house, and she settled in nicely, finding a hidey hole beneath the cellar stairs, carpeted even. She lived the rest of her life out quietly, the way she always had. The last 6 months were not too good, and the last 2 weeks were downright horrible, but all in all she had a good life.
Julia had been a part of my life longer than anyone I know aside from family. She knew me a a lonely single working woman, a newlywed, a new mom, a suburban housewife, a clubgoing music fan, a chef with weird hours, all the incarnations of the last 17 years. I will greatly miss her.
