Back in 1995 when my children were 6 and 4, an old friend, Mark Graham, gave my family a couple of cats that were part of the same litter. Both cats where white; one had long hair and one had short hair. Jimmy, our oldest, and Emily our youngest child, were both very excited. We brought our new cats home, and when we arrived at our house, we let them out to explore. The long haired cat started investigating the building, and I commented that it was curious. Jimmy immediately said “Curious George,” and the long hair had a name. Emily decided that Sam I Am was a good name for the short hair cat.. So Sam and George became part of the Theis family.
Shortly after we brought them home, we took them to the vet and found out both were females. We considered renaming them, but decided to change their names slightly to Georgette and Samantha. But we still called them George and Sam.
Our kids grew and so did the cats. Emily’s cat was Sam. Sam was mostly quiet and liked to hang out with Emily, or to find places to sit up high. George was Jimmy’s cat and was the alpha beast. She was a more chatty cat and liked to run the show. The cats were great companions to the kids. George would nail an occasional mouse, mostly outside, but a couple of times inside our home.

About five years ago we got a black Labrador mix puppy that we named Cricket. George would whack the dog in the face with her paw when Cricket would annoy her. She was never afraid to sleep right next to Cricket, and she would never back down or run away when 65 lbs of Cricket came crashing through the house.
About a year ago, George started losing weight and having other problems. We had taken her to the vet and gotten medicine for her, but she continued to lose weight. She stopped eating and was down to about five pounds when we took her to the vet yesterday. The vet x-rayed her and told us that her problems had compounded and there was nothing he could do for her. So we had to make the tough decision to put her down.
So goodbye, George, and thanks for being a part of our family. Thanks for bringing joy and humor to our lives (I still think of her slapping Cricket). I think the Sam and Cricket are going to miss you too. Enoy the next life. Maybe you’ll get the good canned food there.
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