Hello everyone.

I realize that the majority of the Eve Reader episodes were recorded and released many years ago. If you’re reading this and you’re still subscribed to this website, thank you very much. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to return to Eve and to the podcast – the reasons for and against are complicated – but I appreciate that you still have a place in your heart for the recordings.

I’m writing this post because I don’t know where else to possibly post it. Yesterday, Lenore passed away. Long term listeners would know her as the Podcast Kitty – my constant companion who sat with me during recordings and made it into the blooper reels of two episodes. She was fifteen years old and I was with her to the very end.

I want to share the story about how we met. My wife and I wanted a second cat, and we called local shelters looking for a particular type of cat. A shelter about a half-hour drive had the kind of cat we were looking for, so we drove there. It was a summer-into-fall day, where the heat is just beginning to relent but it doesn’t feel like autumn just yet.

My first impression of the shelter was that they were overwhelmed. It was a no-kill shelter and they clearly were caring for a lot of cats. We met with the administrator, explained that we talked on the phone for that particular cat, and my wife followed the administrator to another part of the shelter to find that cat.

I was in a hallway looking into one of the rooms when I saw a small kitten inside a cage, paw through the bars, trying to get a small toy that was just out of reach. The room was apparently a recovery room for cats after spay/neutering was done, and I asked a staff member if I could go inside and give that cat the toy. They let me into the room and opened the cage so I could give her the toy.

Some time later my wife returned. As it turned out, the cat we came for had already been adopted by someone else and the records just hadn’t been updated yet. She found me with the kitten on my chest, purring her little heart out. She looked at me and we knew that we hadn’t found the cat we intended but we found the cat that was intended for us.

I remember her talking to the administrator about getting the paperwork filled out and the schedule for taking the cat home because she still needed some post-surgery medication over the next few days. I looked at my wife and said that I couldn’t leave her here in this shelter, not even for one night. The staff explained the medications and injections, we signed paperwork, and we took our cat home that evening.

She had a name from the shelter but my daughter named her Lenore and we loved that name. Lenore grew up in our home, adopted her own personality and picked a favorite person, as cats do. She chose me.

Years went by. Nothing living is immune to the passage of time, and Lenore developed a chronic illness. It was manageable, but then more issues occurred, and eventually it was time for that decision that must be accepted. After a long and full life, it was time. I don’t want to talk about the particulars except to say that the veterinarian and her staff were absolutely amazing.

Thank you for reading this post. I’d like to leave you with this link – a blooper reel when I was trying to record All These Lives are Fit to Ruin where Lenore makes an appearance.