04/15/2024
19 years.
If you’ve ever had your very own pet, that was truly all yours, that you chose all by yourself, just for you, you know exactly the kind of love and the bond that comes with it. No other fur baby on Earth will compare to them, despite how much you love them too. That is exactly what Sampie was, and still is, to me.
Sampie, I literally loved you like a human. I have loved you so deeply from the very first time I laid eyes on you when Lisette hand picked you just for me. From the first time I saw your fuzzy little bum go sprinting down the hallway at Beaulieu the one night you had to stay in my room before making the drive from Church Point to Havre Boucher, you were my stubborn sassy pants. And boy that sure didn’t change much over the years. In all of your 19 years, you were the sweetest, most spunky kitty, with a touch of sassiness and so much stubbornness, right until the very end. You really were the cat version of me.
You were so tough. In just the last 2-3 years alone, you made about 5 trips back and forth between Calgary and Halifax and everyone was always so impressed with how well you travelled. After only 4 months away from you when I first moved to Athabasca back in 2008, I snuck you back to my townhouse and you have been by my side ever since. For 19 years. You’ve were with me for half my life. And it still wasn’t long enough. 💔
I moved a LOT in my 16 years out west and you made every single move with me, 13 to be exact, including the uhaul trip down from Athabasca to Innisfail. Any time I flew home to visit, you either came with or I made sure you were in the very best of hands. I would never trust just anyone with you. You were also the first priority to get Nova Scotia when I decided to move home. I just wish you could have gotten to enjoy the nice big deck in the house I bought for all of us.
My first baby.
My first love.
My first everything.
You meant the world to me and although I know it was your time to leave, my heart and soul were so not ready. Not even close. This loss is unimaginable to me because I literally cannot remember what life was like without you… on my lap, at my feet, in my feet, on my chest, snuggled into me wherever you fit.
I loved you.
I still love you.
I will always love you.
No amount of time will change that. What I am most grateful for, aside from you and all that you were, was that you came full circle with me - to Alberta and back home again. Part of me thinks you stuck by me this long because of the loneliness, the hard times and the distance between myself and my close friends and family. I truly feel like you were meant to bring me home, and now that I am in a place where I can start to heal, your worn out body had to move on. Whoever I have to thank for allowing you to make the transition home with me, I am so deeply grateful beyond words.
Today was my hardest goodbye to date and nobody will ever be able to replace you. Nobody.
Thank you for being there through it all. I’ve laughed so hard at and with you, I’ve cried many tears into your fur and regardless of what I was ever needing, you were there with a snuggle, a kiss, a head bunt or a paw, or you’d use your vocals to scare the sh*t out of me. I am so very lost right now. I know that I made the right decision, because you showed me it was your time. Although it doesn’t help the heartache, it does help my soul.
I held you right until you took your last breath, wrapped in a blanket, tucked against my chest, right in my arms, right where you felt safe - just how I had hoped, just where you belonged. You were there for me in some of my most happiest and toughest moments and it was the one thing I wanted to do for you when the time came - Hold you close so you would find comfort in knowing that you weren’t alone, just like you did for me.
If soulmates can be fur babies, you were absolutely mine. I love you. I miss you. I don’t think time will ever heal the huge hole that this loss has left, but that hole is not nearly as big as the lasting imprint and special place that you will hold forever in my heart.
My Sampers, my sassy pants, my Samperones, my squawky, my Samperoni, my favourite kitty girl, my forever girl, my first fur child and forever baby girl…
My Sampie. 💕
2005-2024
