Forever Eric

Eric was and always will be special.
Ivor first met him when he was just a few days old and chose him as the kitten he wanted. I went to the farm where he was born a few days later and chose his litter mate Flynn. They came home with us when they were 5 1/2 weeks old to keep Kit company who was grieving for the last of her brothers and sisters who had gone to the Rainbow Bridge. They have never spent a day apart in almost 13 years.

Eric with brother Flynn aged 6 weeks.

Although Eric and Flynn were litter mates they had very different temperaments. Whereas Flynn runs everywhere and wants to do everything yesterday, tomorrow was always too soon for Eric. He was always very laid back and we would call him our big handsome lion.
He loved to walk the fields with us and Flynn, and if he could paddle in the stream while we were out, then so much the better.

Eric loved water.

I should say now that it was Eric's love of his walks and water that was how we started to blog in the first place.

Back in 2006 we were out on a cold icy morning. I called the boys to go back home but Eric decided he wasn't ready and no amount of calling would change his mind. I started to climb down the bank to get him and slipped on the ice and broke my leg badly. I was laid up for quite some time and was getting bored so I googled "ginger cats" and found Fat Eric. His mum persuaded us to start a blog and in July that year Eric and Flynn joined the cat blogging community.

Eric blogging

He soon decided the desk was a good place to sit and help me blog.

Eric and the spider.

although he often got easily distracted.

When he was out and about he considered it his Mancat duty to check out the farm machinery in case there had been intruders about.

In the trailer.

On the grass machine.

With the tractor.

On the field roller.

 He enjoyed climbing trees with Flynn but was never very good at getting back down and many times I had to help him.

Proud of his achievement.

Now to get back down.

A ladder was much easier.

When he was in the fields he loved to explore the hedges and undergrowth.

Eric and mouse.

And if he found a mouse, that made it so much more exciting.

When he got back from his walks he would often enjoy a bit of gardening.

Eric the gardener.

Eric's chair.

followed by a bit of relaxation in his chair.

Or on his shelf in the sun.

He loved to join Flynn in their plant pots,

although sometimes he chose the wrong one.

When I was recovering from my operation he made sure that he was there to help nurse me.

He was though, and always will be a daddy's boy.

Below are more of our favourite photos.

More handsome than the flower.

Let me in!

Handsome boy.

Forbidden sun spot.

A kiss for Silver.
 

A kiss for his brother.

No tribute to Eric would be complete without that beautiful white tummy.

We had many lovely tributes for our boy and an unbelievable amount of messages of sympathy and we thank each and every one of you for them.
One from Mark, TBT from Mark's Mews really touched my heart. It wasn't just for Eric but for all our beloved cats who have left us for the Bridge. With his permission I have reproduced it below. It is followed by the beautiful graphics that were made for Eric.
We love and miss you very much Eric but you will always live on in our hearts.

Eric 8th April 2000 - 19th March 2013 RIP.

TBT here...

In the earliest days
When the cat-blogs were new,
I knew ALL the cats,
and the losses were few.

As the cat-blogs increased
and the days sped away,
My friends all grew older,
And I'm sorry to say,

That the losses grew frequenter
My heart became weakier
By seeing some friends leave this Earth
Almost monthier.

And then it was weekly,
It seemed so routine
To see a good friend
O'er The Bridge it did seem.

And now it seems daily!

And I stop this rhyme.  It is becoming so hard to hear of one friend or at least known cat after another passing over the Bridge.  I can hardly bear it.  I can only leave what seem to me to be such inadequate few words of comfort.  I sit and cry each and every time, but my comments seems so lame, saying so much less than I want to say, but not knowing how to say more.

I (and we all) know how much the loss of the dear friends mean to each and every one who has lost them, and I apologize for not being able to create a grand and loving farewell to all the kitties who mean so much to me (and especially their Beings) and deserve better comments from me when they travel to the Bridge. 

I can't type through the tears.

How creative can you be when you just can't see the keyboard anymore?  And remembering your own losses while trying to think of good words to those good Beings sufferring a new loss?

I'm a guy, and I don't have much experience at this.  When I was younger and a friend lost a loved one, it was a tentative "tap on the shoulder and I'm sorry, dude".  That was enough between us.  But put into words as a comment on a blog, it sounds so lame.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wish I could say more specific things to each person who has lost a beloved cat about that ONE cat and the loss you are feeling, but I can't.  I keep having to push the keyboard away to save it from the tears that are falling like rain.

The tears like rain are what I can offer.  You won't see them, but they are there.  Constant, unstopping, a tissue-box full.  I can't show them over the computer, but they are here,  So know that when I mention our "Best Purrs of Comfort", there is a lot more behind the simple words.

I am crying with you, for you, of you, to you, and knowing your pain of loss.  I know (as most of us but the luckiest do) the pain.  Just forgive me if I can't put THAT part in words at the right time as well as I would like to.

I listen to Connie Francis singing "I Will Wait For You".  I'd give a link but it just keeps going to some amateur youtube video...

Mark
For Eric...  Forever...

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Skeezix

Karla

Zoolatry

Punapippuri

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Rainbow Bridge Friends

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Manx Mnews

Alasandra