I’ve kept a secret from you. My apologies, but I wasn’t ready to share. Now I am. For a short time I was a mommy to two beautiful boys.
Yes. Emeril had a little brother named Morimoto. We called him Mo.
We met Mo at the vet’s office. They often board a cat from the local humane society, hoping one of their clients will adopt him. Mo instantly captured my heart, but I hesitated to make it official.
Emeril has always been an only child. While I would like to think he would welcome a sibling—I really didn’t know. Plus, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but Mo called to me. Emeril needed to visit the vet multiple times, so I frequently saw Mo looking sweetly at me.
Finally, after Christmas, I brought him home with me. He was a little lover. He loved to be held and would hug you while you slept.
I miss those hugs the most.
Emeril and Mo adjusted to one another with relative ease. Naturally, there was some hissing and posturing by both. Mo readily accepted that Emeril was the senior cat, and Emeril concurred. They loved chasing one another, although it led to some timeouts as I tried to differentiate between playing and fighting.
During this time, the late night war broke out between Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. “I’m with CoCo” became the rallying cry of Conan’s supporters, and in our home “I’m with MoMo” became our battle cry.
Life was really good.
Then one day, Mo stopped eating. I didn’t think much of it at first. Emeril was retaliating for a recent enema by refusing to eat, even though I offered everything possible to tempt him. It didn’t work, but Mo ate everything. I figured he had a little tummy ache from his gluttony.
I was wrong.
Eventually, I took him to the vet. Mo put up a good fight, but within the week, his liver failed, and he passed away.
And my heart broke.
The day was gray and cold; the rain steady and unrelenting. The pain in my heart immense. I wasn’t sure if the sun would every shine again.
Mo was only with us for one month. There were times I asked why. And times I berated myself for adopting Mo and making myself so vulnerable. But mostly, I feel blessed to have been Mo’s mom.
It’s one year later, and Emeril and I plan to celebrate Mo’s short life with us this week. We hope you’ll join us.
I’m with MoMo.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
“It is better to open your heart and feel great joy as well as great pain than it is to feel nothing. That is the difference between living and existing.”
Thank you. That’s beautiful and true. Mo brought a lot of joy and pain into my life. But mostly, he gave me the gift of his love and accepted mine in return and for that I wouldn’t change a thing.