In Memoriam -- Jiggsy

In April, The Tower Hill Mob lost its dearest member. Jiggsy went over the Rainbow Bridge to play and chase butterflies until his beans come to greet him again. Jiggsy's daddy will certainly come to meet him again, for Jiggsy was his daddy's favorite boy.

Jiggsy, also known by his nickname Doodle, was a black and white tuxedo cat, the brother of Toby. Every night, when Daddy was watching something not-cat-related on television -- like the Red Sox or "24" -- Jiggsy would jump up in his lap and just flop over, knowing Daddy would catch him. Then Jiggsy would fall asleep in Daddy's arms with his head nuzzled in the crook of his elbow and purring.

Jiggsy would call Daddy to bed at night, meowing and talking from the bed while Daddy turned out the lights and did all the other things beans do before they go to sleep. Once Daddy was settled in, Jiggsy would climb up on Daddy's side with his bum end -- the best part -- toward Daddy's head and stretch out to sleep. During the night when Daddy rolled over, Jiggsy would ride him like a surfer on a wave until he settled down again.

Jiggsy was healthy all his life. While the other members of The Tower Hill Mob got pudgy, Jiggsy stayed slim and sleek as a cat should be. But one day, Jiggsy's beans noticed he seemed to be getting pudgy, too. At first they wrote it off to old age but when Jiggsy stopped pooping properly, the beans took him right to the vet.

After many trips to the vet and tests, it was learned that Jiggsy had cancer -- a very rapid and hard to treat kind. Jiggsy's beans took him home and made him as comfortable as they could. But finally, they made the difficult choice to send him over the Bridge to wait for them. It was the right choice but still very hard to do.

Jiggsy's beans miss him very much but will always remember the wonderful cat he was.