A Beautiful Surprise....

                                                        
Close to a year and a half ago now, my husband and I were faced with the difficult and heart-breaking decision to have our beautiful, eight year old, ginger cat euthanized. Oscar was diagnosed with Cat Aids and after a few months, the dreaded time came to end his life before he suffered the pain of severe secondary illnesses. It was a horrible and sad time for us and we still miss him terribly.

However, on the first anniversary of Oscar's passing (coincidence? I don't believe so), a little ginger eight week old kitten found us. Although I wasn't quite ready to welcome a new cat into our lives, how could I resist this vulnerable, young animal that needed a safe and loving home? So we adopted 'Ginge' (Oscar's nick name) and he is now nearly five months old. This week, after having been fully vaccinated, he has started venturing outside and is enjoying every minute of discovering his new world! We love him to bits.

Monday night of this week my husband was away overnight with work and Ginge and I cuddled on the couch in the evening before retiring to bed. Ginge will come and sit on my bedside table, on my right, and wait until I am under the covers and have turned the bedside lamp off before, in the darkness, I feel his little foot steps walk over the doona to my feet, where he then makes himself comfortable for the duration of the night.

So, that night I climbed into bed and turned the lamp off, while Ginge was in his usual place on the bedside table. I then felt him come and lie down on the doona next to my waist and rib cage on my right side. A passing thought occurred to me that Oscar used to sleep in that very spot every night, as opposed to near my feet as Ginge does. I chuckled to myself that Oscar may have informed Ginge of this, as I have been silently asking Oscar to look out for Ginge and to show him the ropes of home and our farm if he is still around (in spirit).

So feeling the weight next to my body, I lifted my arm out from under the doona to stroke Ginge's beautiful coat - but Ginge wasn't there. I soon realised he was still sitting on the bedside table!

An amazingly, warm feeling immediately engulfed me. I knew in my heart, without a doubt, my Oscar was there, lying in his regular spot as he used to every night. I couldn't help but shed a mixture of a few happy and sad tears. I have experienced some wonderful, comforting signs from/about Oscar since his passing, and I have seen him many times over the last year and a half through my peripheral vision, however this experience was the most special.

Ginge then proceeded to step onto the doona and slowly made his way to my feet, where he happily settled, and I peacefully drifted off to sleep knowing I had the pleasure of both my babies to snuggle up with that night...

My unexpected visitor, Oscar : )