We Miss You Drake

So our very loving, fat, Garfield of a cat, Drake, has gone missing. And after a couple days of calling him, and a couple weeks of no sign of him it is pretty clear that Drake isn't coming home.

Sadly, Padon had commented a few times about how much he loved Drake and that Drake was his best friend. I don't know how the conversation occurred but Walter explained to Padon that Drake wasn't coming home and had probably been killed/eaten by Coyotes in the neighborhood. Most likely true, if not a raccoon, but I was surprised that Walter had gone to so much detail to say Drake had been killed and eaten. It was one of the first things out of Padon's mouth when I came home and again the next day, but now included gorey details (all Padon's imagination) about how Drake had been eaten. I worried about how much thought Padon was giving it and it was obvious that he was still hopeful that Drake may still come home.

I tried to talk to Padon about it, trying to calm his nerves about rampant cat eating coyotes and then Padon popped up with, "Mommy, you didn't like Drake." I blanched inside. Well yeah, I didn't like him, but he peed in my kids rooms, peed and pooped on Padon's rock pillows (that must be washed at a laundry mat), and scratched my furniture. He also ate huge portions of food keeping, our other cat, Romeo from being able to eat a proper portion, and would show his dormancy over that old cat by throwing and pinning him to the ground. While I noticed that Drake did bring home rats and mice, I didn't feel he was pulling his weight in our household (the whole reason we have a cat to begin with is to keep down on rodents), and I found him very inconvenient. It often made me feel better to let him out the back door (after he had just come in and was already meowing to get let back out) and say "Go out and get eaten!" To Padon I just said, slightly exacerbated "well no, I didn't like him because he peed and pooped in your rock pillows! But Padon, I would never wish him to get eaten by Coyotes!" It has come up at least 4 times that I don't like Drake. I don't know what goes through Padon's mind when he reminds me of that and I always reiterate that I didn't want him to get eaten by Coyotes, I just wanted him to be a better cat.

On the 4th mention of Drake and that he wasn't going to come back I brought Padon to the computer and showed him pictures of gravestones. I said "Padon, when someone dies it is really hard to not have something to remember them with. A lot of people put up a stone or something memorable to mark where that person died or just to remember them. I think we should find a special marker for Drake and you can choose where we should put it to remember Drake. Padon was excited for this prospect, and I think Walter almost as much. Honestly Walter loved Drake too. It was irritating how Drake came and went but Walter and Drake would snuggle and Walter would give him a lot of affection and attention. I had been thinking of a rock as something to paint, decorate, and commemorate Drake, but as Walter and Padon walked around the yard, looking for a paver, or rock, they came across this short piece of log and Padon said that was the item to paint.

Walter carried it back to the deck and Padon chose the spot on the deck to place it and I went inside and grabbed by Acrylic paints and brushes.

Armed with layers of newspaper, Padon and Walter got down to decorating the log.
Padon did a lot of painting with purple, red, and blue and was very satisfied with the work he had done on the top of the log.

He put a hand print on the side and a few brush strokes, but with Walter's painting of Drake's name they both felt it was complete.

I'm not sure that Padon has gone out to look at it again since; it kind of gets lost on the corner of the deck. I tried to mention that it was an object to go and look at, if Padon wished he could see Drake, or wanted to talk to him. I think the process of making it was a little helpful. The idea of Drake still comes up but not as frequently. I think what was so tough about Drake not coming home, was that he was the first thing in Padon's life that has passed away or never come back. A lot has happened over the last 6 months. It's too bad that death happened too, and a brutal example of death too, not just an old and passed away death.