Smokey, you came into our home before I was born. Your mother thought my crib would be a great place to have kittens. After several disagreements, my mother convinced your mommy to let you sleep in the bed made for you and your brothers and sisters in a closet. Your mommy was a stray who came to our home when she was very pregnant.
My family kept you because you were the runt, but you grew up to be a very big boy. I got a Brownie Hawkeye for Christmas one year and I still have countless pictures of you letting me use you for a baby doll.
I have pictures of you in the doll bed my grandpa made for me. I had dressed you up in doll clothes and you patiently let me do whatever I wanted. You even drank out of my doll bottle. I guess you just knew I loved you and wanted to play with you more than my human friends.
You didn’t like it when we moved five miles from the home we had both known for 11 years. You disappeared and three weeks later the old neighbors called. You had walked all the way back home and my dad had to drive there to get you.
You welcomed several other pets into our home. You didn’t even mind that some of them were birds.
You went on vacation with us every year. We would go camping in the mountains in southern Arizona, and you loved playing in the trees and chasing critters that you never saw at home.
You were with me a long time, Smokey. You were my buddy for 17 years, and my life was never the same after you died. I didn’t have my big, furry foot warmer in bed at night, and I didn’t have anyone to pet while I watched TV.
Even after all of these years, Smokey, I think of you often. I hope you are watching over all of my sweet furbabies that have joined you in the last 46 years. I bet you were surprised to see Tucker because he looked very much like you. It’s been almost a year since he went to Rainbow Bridge, and I miss him as I miss you.
Thank you for all of those times together. Thank you for letting a little girl spend so many hours with you. Never once did you scratch me or get tired of the games we played. I love you.
You are forever in my heart.
I love and miss you,
| Smokey Joe |
| Apr 1961 |
| Char |