Milo was a bundle of beauty and joy from the moment he was born. His original family held him from birth, instantly creating the wonderful and bonding connection of human-feline intimacy.
Milo was born outdoors on the porch of a beautiful home on a quiet street in Mahwah, NJ. At the tender age of 8, my mom brought me to the house with a litter of kittens for sale. He was the friendliest and most active of the bunch. We saw him and knew he was the one.
Naming him after the feline star of the loveable movie, The Adventures of Milo & Otis, well, might have been a small mistake - the name brought trouble! Milo was an extremely curious cat and found many ways to forfeit some of his 9 lives. He would climb about the house and find his way into everything. From leaping from the dining room table to the bird cage dangling from the ceiling, to jumping into the dryer, to escaping from the house, only to find him patiently waiting on the doorstop the next morning to be let in, he was a character!
He was such a shining star, brightening the lives of everyone. Humans were his best friends. He was present and accounted for on every major holiday, even when anywhere from 10-30 people filled the house with children running about. Milo could be found at the center of it all, sleeping peacefully on a chair in the kitchen as a dozen people scrambled to get dinner ready.
He loved eating, earning him the nickname Fatty from me at an early age. Soon came along his eternal friend and companion Baron, a skittish cat who he soon befriended. The two were always found together, sitting in the kitchen day in and day out begging for food, sleeping on a bed or couch nuzzled up next to each other, and playing together.
Milo was almost always purring - whenever I or another member of the family went near him to pet him, he would chortle and purr with vocal love. He would bang his forehead against mine, saying I love you, I love you. He would nuzzle his head into mine, purring and chortling like he was the happiest boy alive.
As the years grew by, Milo drifted into a lazy habit of sleeping, eating and exploring the house. He no longer climbed up the Christmas tree and batted ornaments to their death, or dared to defy gravity, but he was still agile, graceful, limber and energetic. Sometimes he would sneak off for a day to some secret spot, but he would always reemerge for dinner or to say hello and reassure his place in the household.
He was the epitome of a good cat – calm, cool, friendly, easy going - loving everyone and everything, always happy to be stroked or pet or fed. He did not have one bad bone in his body.
And so it is with a heavy heart and tear-stained cheeks that I grieve and mourn the lost of my very best friend, the single most amazing creature that I have ever been blessed with sharing 12 wonderful years of my life with. He was an integral and priceless part of my every day. I am so thankful for these memories, and although I feel as though something irreplaceable has been stolen from me, the sun has broken through the clouds on what was a grey, misty, cold morning and shines on me right now.
He was my foundation, a being of beauty that comes along only once in a lifetime. He was such an amazing creature that I feel truly blessed to have known him - a truly incredible spirit of strength, happiness, and peace.
Milo, wherever you are, I love you ceaselessly and adoringly, and will cherish our happy memories until the end of time. You will never be forgotten and I hope wherever you are, you are warm, comfortable and happy. You have touched me in ways I could never imagine, and you are truly and wholly loved.