Last night when I got home, there was a message on my voicemail from
a friend, asking if I would be available today, to help out one of her
friends. The friend's cat had just died, and she wanted to bury her
in a park, but she had nobody to go with her. She didn't want to do
it alone. So she asked our mutual friend if she knew anyone who might
be willing to go with her, and my name came up. The friend-of-my-friend
is an acquaintance of mine, so we're not total strangers. Anyway, I
agreed to do it.

So today, we set out for a very pretty park in Berkeley, bringing a
small fold-up garden spade for a shovel (because we couldn't exactly
march into the park holding a regular-size shovel - talk about being
really obvious about what we were doing!). We trudged through about a
half-mile of extremely mushy, squishy mud to get to the spot she had
selected.

It was well worth it. The site was on a small hill in a clearing in
the woods. She chose a spot under some eucalyptus trees and started
digging. Because of the size of the shovel, it took about a half hour
or so to dig a hole big enough for the box holding Mocha. The recent
rains had softened the ground, which helped. Still, it wasn't a very
deep hole. But we placed the box in the hole, and then Mocha's human
did a small Pagan ritual to say goodbye, as we covered it with the
dirt. All in all, it was a very sweet farewell.

Mocha was a part Siamese tortie, a small cat with a big personality.
I probably met her once, because I have been to this woman's house
once, several years ago, although I don't remember because she had
several cats. Mocha's human showed me a photo of her today. She was
13 years old, and had chronic irritable bowel syndrome, which finally
got the best of her.

I was honored to be part of her ceremony. I thought I would let you
all know of her passing, so that some of you might wish her an easy
journey, and perhaps ask your departed RB pets to keep a lookout for
newbie Mocha.

Thanks,
Joyce