Leland Gebhardt

Monday we lost our beautiful sweet calico kitty, Easley. She lived with us 2 months short of 10 years. An hour after she passed a spectacular monsoon arrived with rain and a rainbow for her to cross.

She came to us one night as a stray kitten when we were sitting at the firepit a few days before Halloween, and became a member of the family immediately. Her beautiful calico colors were also Halloween themed so we wanted to give her a name to reflect that. My partner Patrick had the brilliant idea of naming her after Easley’s Fun Shop, a legendary local costume store.

Her nickname was Sinksley because she slept in sinks.🥰

It’s been a hard 4 months. Through May and June we were daily treating what appeared to be an ear infection. July 3 we got the first skin cancer diagnosis. It was already too late to cure so it’s just been 2 months of daily triage. It’s been a long intense journey, but we got to enjoy ‘a-last’ of everything: being outside, sitting in the grass, rolling on the concrete, sitting on top of the Miata, sleeping in the bathroom sink, and kneading biscuits.

It was just one year ago we also lost her sister, Hayden, to renal disease. It’s a hard blow to lose them when we thought we had many more years ahead. We still have Gates, the charming tuxedo cat who is mostly outdoors. The house feels near empty now. Life is often so unexpected.