Lady Utopia Planitia, 2000 - 2008
We lost our little Persian cat Utopia today. She had been fighting lung cancer since the beginning of the year, and today we decided that she had fought long enough. She was diagnosed back in April after several vet and vet specialist visits, and throughout the last 5 months, she’s had ups and downs. Through all that time, though, we got to spend some quality time with her, which I know helped her make it that long.
Utopia was always a peculiar cat. From the very earliest days, I remember her being both intensely affectionate and yet often standoffish, not an uncommon mix in cats. In her younger years before she was spayed, Utopia would subject us to her caterwauling while she was in heat. She even once mounted up on one of our Pekingese, obviously confused about both her role and her species!
Utopia was a long-haired cat, so we would often have her shaved with a “lion” cut. This gave her a very distinctive sleekness that we think she really enjoyed. Once home from the groomers, we’d find her galloping around the house like a tiny horse, free of her massive coat and ready to race! She was also partial to catnip, rolling around on our floors, even scooter herself sideways around the carpet to get her fix.
In her later years, she was fond playing “Danger Cat” outside, hunting lizards, and generally just exploring our backyard. Sometimes she would even find ways to escape her domain and explore our neighborhood, but we’d always reel her back in before she went too far. Her favorite spot had to be the bamboo garden in the back corner of our backyard. She’d spend long stretches of time just laying out there on the bench under the bamboo, completely relaxed and free.
That is where she lays now, under the gently swaying bamboo, free from her pain and able, at last, to rest.
So, we drove around, waited in some rather dense traffic, and with only our Garmin GPS as our guide, proceeded to seek out anything to pass the time. After only another hour or so of random driving, we eventually found our way to Vanderbilt University. It was next to its campus that we found a great way to spend at least an hour or so more - Borders Books and Music!
