Some might find the following pages a little overboard. After all, say some, "she's JUST a cat." Right?

Well, physically, yes. But she was also my child. I spent a lot of time raising her from birth, teaching her everything that I could about the world, and watching her as she grew up. She was my best and closest friend for a long time...always there, always forgiving. She didn't care about how I looked sometimes, or about my little quirks here and there. I took great pride in her, in who she was, what she had become - by me AND by herself, in all the things she had learned in growing up, in how different she was from the rest, and in all the things that she could do - both ordinary and extraordinary.

Raisen was so...with it. She was present. She was there. Raisen knew exactly what was going on around her. She enjoyed the world and all the things in it. You could see in her face, in her eyes, and in her body language...her great desire to try to explore every new thing that she saw, to enjoy life, and to express her feelings over every new experience that she had. She was no ordinary cat. She had smarts that no other animal had, and I was very keenly aware of that. It made me so proud of her. All she had to do was look at me and I was able to understand just exactly what - in any of a thousand possible things - that she meant. Because of this mutual ability to communicate with each other, we became so much closer to each other than would otherwise normally be possible. She was, literally, my baby.

I loved her as greatly as any two humans could for each other. I could see the love in her, and she returned it openly and freely and in great amounts without question. She was a special little girl. I felt very close to her. And now, I miss her greatly. A major portion of my life is gone, never to be seen or heard again. I cannot help but notice those things missing, now. I do want her back so badly.

INDEX:

1. Raisen's ORIGINAL Pages - Raisen's original web pages as they were before she died. Raisen was exceptionally happy and even had a sense of smartipants humor. I tried to reflect that by creating these rather jesting pages about her. I used to joke that these pages were in retaliation for all the times she'd deliberately knocked something off of the top of the china cabinet and onto my head as I would walk by it. (She really used to do that.)
2. Memories of Raisen - Departing memories of Raisen. All that I could remember, written down in multiple notebooks after she passed away. (Under ongoing construction.)
3. Letters To Raisen - Occasional letters I've written to Raisen since she passed away. (Under ongoing construction.)
4. Raising Raisen: Notes From My Journal - I created a whole plan for raising the kittens once they were born. I wanted to make sure that they were raised right. (Under ongoing construction.)

© Copyright 1995-2002 by Todd L. Sherman. All Rights Reserved.