One Saturday, we were looking on Craigslist and saw several kittens available for adoption. One group was adopting kittens at the PetCo right next to the Target I was working at. Sam and I went there and looked at the kittens... and we found a brother and sister in the same cage. The sister was climbing up the cage, meowing, and just being destructive. The brother was sitting in the litter box, quiet as could be. Sam immediately liked the quiet one, of course. Sam picked him up and the kitten just looked at him with his big green eyes... I noticed a little brown spot in his eye, just like what Candy had. I instantly fell in love; Sam did, too... he wanted a boy kitten and this one seemed much more relaxed and quiet than the sister, so we decided on the boy.
The kitten was grey with dark grey stripes; you could only really see the stripes in the right light. His big green eyes and his huge ears only made him more adorable. When we adopted him, his name was Stormy... We didn't like that much, so Sam gave him the full name of Benjamin J. Grimm... but we just called him Grimm.
He didn't like to cuddle much, but he liked to play... and he liked to watch me knit. He especially liked this little red stick with a green fluffy ball and jingle bell on it. He took it to his water bowl, his food bowl, and he even slept with it. He used to jump into the cradle and sleep in the bedroom with us every night. One night, he was determined to get us to play with him and his stick... Sam picked it up and just threw it out of our room... and then we heard the jingle... and it was back on the bed. That went on for a few minutes before we realized... Grimm was playing fetch!
Grimm didn't much care about being social; as long as he had his stick, he was good. He loved hiding in boxes and bags, playing in butcher paper, and chewing random things. He really liked sticking his head inside of shoes and rolling around on the floor (I think he was getting high from the stinky fumes!). He wasn't too sure about new people; he usually stayed in the other room when people were visiting. However, Grimm could pick out people who were allergic to cats and decided to sleep next to our friend Jeff when he stayed the night.
Grimm was so used to me being home most days that when I started working full-time, he became a bit more distant... and when I would visit CA, he became even more distant when I came back. He seemed to have a touch of separation anxiety... but he still had his moments when he'd jump on my lap and desire attention or sit on Sam's chair and require love. Grimm was a solid 9 pounds of muscle... a nice, lean kitty with enough power to push you away from him if you held him against his will.
A little over a year later, we realized Grimm would stare at the corner and meow... we thought he was lonely. When we got Odin, Grimm seemed to be okay with it at first... because Odin was sick. But when Odin recovered and started being more active, Grimm soon realized Odin liked to play fetch, too... and with his stick, no less! Grimm cut off all ties to his stick that day. :( Grimm also lost all interest in playing if Odin was around, since Odin was smaller and a little quicker. Grimm tolerated Odin's desire to snuggle; Grimm even helped Odin bathe, since Odin was really bad at that when he was a kitten. They quickly became friends, even though Odin tried to fight with Grimm every chance he got... and Grimm would win every time.
When we moved to the house, Grimm enjoyed all the extra space... but he missed the large windowsills at the apartment. Instead, Grimm would sleep in front of the slider, on the kitchen table, or on our bed to get some sunlight. He really enjoyed our tiny master bathroom; he slept in our sink at one point! He also enjoyed taking showers with us... well, he liked sitting on the edge of the bathtub and playing thru the shower curtain. He also loved sitting by the front door, waiting for us to come home from work.
Grimm was always the "good cat." He didn't jump on counters, he didn't eat people food, he didn't beg, he didn't pee outside the box... he was just very well behaved. So we knew something was wrong when he started peeing around the house. After a few trips to the vet, we were finally told he had kidney failure. He didn't look or act sick... until we let him stay overnight at the animal hospital... and he came home worse than when he left. He still wanted attention from time to time, which still made me happy, even if it was sporadic.
Last November, we found two kittens outside of our house... and we were planning on finding a good home for them... but... I decided it was the universe's way of helping us cope with Grimm's problems.
Grimm toughed it out for the past 7 months; he was a stubborn kitty. We're not sure what exactly he was waiting for, but I am hoping whatever it was, it was worth it. Ultimately, Sam and I decided we didn't want him to continue in this world as uncomfortable as he was. He is already missed and will forever be loved.
I love you, Grimm... forever and always.
