It’s here!
Yay! Data’s portrait that snis ordered from dimdi* arrived a lot sooner than I expected! What a great Monday surprise. I love it and was so excited to hang it last night! Thank you, Snistina!
Dimdi based her painting on this photo of Data from when he was two or three, and added his bowtie and changed his tail, per our request.
After Data died, I was looking through his old photos and it became extremely apparent how much weight he’d lost and how unhealthy he was compared to when he was a young lad. Some weight loss is natural for older cats, but his was extreme. Seeing that made me feel better, like we made the right decision to say goodbye when we did. It also made me feel better when people commented on that too – that he didn’t look as healthy as he used to. We knew he was unhealthy, but it wasn’t so starkly obvious living with him declining a bit day by day, as it was seeing those photos. Anyway. I was hoping I wouldn’t talk about this as much in October, as it’s been four weeks, but here I am, still talking about it!!! I guess I need to.
I love having Data and Snow in the kitchen/dining room with us. That’s a good spot for Data, as he’d always jump up on project peninsula**, even though he wasn’t supposed to. Starbuck has become fond of counter surfing lately. Steven said she got on the counter and walked on to the cutting board while he was using it to make dinner last night. Oh, kitties. You little turds.
One last thing – Khali wants to show you her “I’m a lady” pose:
Just kidding. Don’t tell her I posted that here. She’s very proper and wouldn’t be happy.
*Do I still have to say stuff is not sponsored? This is not sponsored.
**That’s what we call that surface, because when we do projects, that’s where all the tools end up, sigh (I moved some to take that photo). Steven used to call it project island, but I pointed out it’s NOT an island, so it became project peninsula.
Themocracy
4 weeks isn’t very long, it makes sense to still talk about Data. The portrait looks great! And I love that photo of Khali, but don’t worry, I won’t mention it to her 🙂
Thanks for saying that. I feel like a broken record, but sharing it does help!
Thanks! And thanks for not mentioning it, phew!
Data looked very much like our Kip towards the end – especially in the face. If it makes you feel better, while I knew Kip was losing weight, I didn’t realize just how much until a while after he died. I think that’s normal when you live with a cat and see them on a daily basis – it really doesn’t register.
I love the painting of Data. I will have to look into doing something like that for our pets…how far should I go back? LOL, don’t answer that!
That does make me feel better that it happened to you (although I wish it hadn’t!) and that you get it. I am that way with people too – I don’t notice small changes, especially if I see them often! I have to not see them for quite a while.
Thanks. You should!!! At least get Kip… 🙂
What a lovely painting of Data! I love his bowtie 🙂
Thanks!!!!
I love the paintings!! I should consider one for Miss Nova. I’ve been thinking of her a lot this week and it’s been a month and a half… I think one of the craziest aspects for us is the opposite of with Data. Nova was only 6 and while we knew she was sick because her lab results weren’t great, she acted healthy! So it caught us completely off guard.
I really can’t imagine the shock of that 🙁 My heart breaks for you guys.
I do recommend dimdi if you think this is something you’d enjoy having <3
The alliteration makes project peninsula sound better anyway!
Its only been a month… you are still supposed to talk about him. Martina’s Dad teared up (and he is very proper) the other day looking at a picture of their old dog and its been almost 2 years.
Right?! I think so too.
Aww, I bet that will be me, too. Is she home now or still there?
I love that painting so much. And what a perfect place to hang it. Talk about it as long as you need to. He was a big part of your life for a very long time.
Thanks! And thanks. Some days feel fine and I don’t need to talk about it (much, ha) and some days still feel like big shocks.
That is BEAUTIFUL. I think I’m going to invest in one of these for Dutch. Now I just need to find the perfect picture.
It’s been eight months (omg) and I still feel like I talk about Dutch and my grief a lot. It’s natural! They are our family. <3
Thank you! And I hope you do! It’s such a treasure to have, and dimdi is a pleasure to work with 🙂 Let me know which pic you choose!
You know, it seems natural to me when you talk about it, so I shouldn’t think twice about myself! Thanks for making me think that way. And yes! They are our family!!!
What a great painting – I love the bowtie! We have photos of our past dogs hanging up in the entryway, and they still make me happy, and also sad. Michael and I continue to talk about them, maybe because they were our first dogs (we adopted them together). While we don’t grieve them, we still think often about them.
I love that you have their paintings up! And that it’s another prompt/reminder to share your favorite stories from them.
I wonder about Data being our first too, if it gets easier later? I bet not!