Tig, In Memoriam and Gratitude
This is Tig, doing what Tig so often did.

When I first shared this photo a little over a month ago, I captioned it like this:
“Hello human. I couldn’t help but notice that you have a lap which I am not currently occupying. Please allow me to rectify this grave error immediately.”
We said goodbye to Tig today. She had an advanced form of cancer, and didn’t have much time left.
Tig wasn’t my cat, but I was fortunate enough to spend a great deal of time with her, taking care of her, when her actual human was out of town. And boy, Tig was always determined to get your attention and your affection. Almost nothing could dissuade her from this mission. If she wanted to be in your lap, it didn’t matter if you had a laptop or anything else; she would either replace the laptop or she would make it extremely clear to you that she was deeply unhappy about the state of affairs that allowed something else, something that was clearly not Tig, to occupy Tig’s rightful place.

I won’t pretend that this was never annoying. Sometimes, late at night, I just wanted to lie in bed and watch ASMR videos on YouTube and drift off to sleep, and invariably Tig would hop up, stroll over to me and begin demanding my affection. However, I admit I usually relented without too much pressure. After all, I reasoned, what’s more meaningful? The entirely imaginary human contact that I turn to ASMR videos for as a substitute for the absence of much real human contact in my own life, or the chance to spend some time giving love to a real, living thing, that’s here with me right now?
Tig gave me a tremendous gift, during the time she and I spent together. She made me feel as if my presence and my love are worth something. She reminded me that I do have love to give. For that, and for the opportunity to give her what love I could, in what time we had, I will always be grateful.
Rest in peace, Tig. I love you.

Notes
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