In Memory of Ginger the Adventure Cat
The world is beautiful yet brutal. Creation groans to be made perfect again. And it hurts.
Last week on this day, our precious Ginger the Adventure Cat crossed the rainbow bridge. 🌈🥺 She had a short battle with a fierce infection in her leg that shocked us and our vet how quickly it took over her body. We are absolutely devastated to pieces. 💔
Ginger showed up for the first time one winter night, shortly after we moved here, when we were making homemade pasta with friends with the door open. Suddenly there was a cat weaving in between Steven’s ankles. She adopted us that day and never left.
For the last 5 1/2 years, she was a bright spot in our every single day and in my girls’ childhoods. And honestly, that’s one of the hardest things about this - I feel like a stage of childhood has ended and a new one has begun, marked by this moment drawn in the sand.
She was such an attentive, loving mama, two times over. We will miss her paws reaching up and trying to open the front doorknob first thing in the morning to let us know she was ready to be fed. Her feet bouncing down the stairs the mornings after she slept in our girls’ beds. Her fluffy coat of fur that somehow always smelled like perfume and was like therapy to rub your fingers through. The way she would casually appear on the scene anywhere we were on the farm, whether we were planting in the field, walking to the barn kitchen, hanging out with friends, or just sitting on the front porch.
She loved cozy blankets, pieces of deli turkey from the fridge, adventuring through the woods, and basically being anywhere we were.
She was content to watch over her girls, Luci and Norah, while they played in the Forest of Fun. Occasionally she would climb trees and scare the daylights out of us. The first photo encapsulates Ginger exactly as I hope to always remember her. She was so sweet and gentle, but she had a wild side. It was our great joy to give her the space to freely explore outside as she wished and also be inside with us, her family. Both of those were part of the special creature Ginger was.
“King of creation,
Here was your good creature,
and here were the spaces and the days we shared.
We made room in our lives,
Room in our home,
Room in our hearts,
To welcome your unique creation.
And we gave your good creature the name ‘Ginger.’
We know that the final working of your redemption will be far-reaching,
encompassing all things in heaven and on earth,
so that no good thing will be lost forever, so that even our sorrow at the loss of this beloved creature
will somehow, someday, be met and filled, and, in joy, made forever complete.
Comfort us in this meantime, O Lord, for the ache of these days is real.”
Thank you, Ginger girl, for being such a beautiful presence on our farm and in our lives. We will never, ever forget you. ❤️💔❤️💔
