Rest in peace, Pippin

I buried my old friend Pippin last week, and now there’s this big empty spot that keeps following me around the house. It drove me to my filing cabinets where I found a negative of Pippin with his sister Sadie, taken in my studio back in their youth. At the time Sadie was my favorite of the two, but she died young. Pippin was with me for nearly 19 years – a very long run for a cat.

As it turned out, that was for the better. I never could have had my beautiful bird otherwise. Sadie was a fierce natural predator but Pippin always just wanted love. I acquired my white dove strictly for a photo prop, not intending to keep her even for eight hours, and she ended up staying over eight years. She became my Girly Girl – a name that fit her personality exactly. I could go on a very long tangent here, reminiscing about her funny antics and sunny personality, but will rein it in for now. Pippin’s great saving grace was that I could leave him alone with Girly Girl for any length of time, with no worries at all. They were buddies.

I’ll never forget the time I came home after a two-day photo shoot out of town. After lugging my gear in from the car I headed straight for the shower, exhausted. At the end of a long, relaxing bath I opened the shower door and there side by side, looking up at me expectantly, were Pippin and Girly Girl – waiting for their greeting. That was a commonplace of life in my old studio; they livened things up so much. When Girly died it was like a big light went out in that place, but Pippin quietly picked up the torch. He’s seen me through trials and heartaches as well as some fairly crazy times.

Old Pip began to shut down about a week and a half ago. He stopped eating and then a few days later he stopped taking water. He went to sleep Thursday at the vet’s, in my arms. I’ve had a few dogs and cats over the years but Pippin was like no other. I’ll miss his trusting, bumbling innocence and sweetness. He didn’t have a mean fiber in his being. The color photo at bottom was taken just a few weeks ago – very much the elder cat. The black and white immediately below is Sadie and Pippin back in their salad days. You’ve heard the phrase “herding cats”? That’s what making this picture was all about. I shot multiple rolls of film and got exactly one frame with both of them in the picture, sort of looking toward me. But it was well worth the effort; both these photos mean more to me now than ever.