Merm and Didrre

Romeo Kitty Tarzan Pohl and Delilah Odessa De-Sha Pohl were euthanized yesterday. They were the kittens we brought with us on the boat, the kittens that inspired the language we spread among other kids living on boats, Momo Talk. They fell into the water 19 and 21 times respectively during that year, crawling up pilings or the ladder to get back on the boat, soaking wet. We lived with their sand-kitty litter in our sleeping bags, and their fur in our food. They caught birds and flying fish to eat at sea, and kept my parents company on overnight passages in the cockpit. We called them the 'herd of elephants' because they thundered overhead at night, chasing eachother around the deck. And that was only the first year of their lives.
They also joined us in the Park Plaza Apartments 10 stories up in downtown Lexington. We walked them downstairs in Phoenix Park on lavender and blue leashes. They moved with us out to the farm, where they were born themselves, and were always ready to join us on our hikes, little kitty cat footsteps padding in the leaves behind us up to the arch, or trotting behind us when we went down to see the horses. Each knew their master. Whenever Chelsea and I were home, Didrre slept with me or Merm slept with Chelsea. One night when we slept up in the cave with girlfriends, Merm joined us at the height of our ghost-story scare, and kept us safe and in good company til the next afternoon when we packed everything out.
I love those kitties so much. Besides my sister, they were the only live connection I had to a time when my parents were still together. They were a constant comfort to me, part of going home was seeing them and giving them attention. I feel so sad that I didn't make it to my dad's house to visit them over winter break. I feel so bad that Merm had bad teeth and i couldn't afford to pay for a dental or that I couldn't do it myself (not for a few more years yet). He deserved it, he was the most affectionate complacent lovebug of a cat there was. And Didrre's only fault was that she was born at the same time as Merm.
I don't have any pictures of Merm (that makes me sad) on my computer, so you can click on the title to a link to the Momo Talk Opera for his tribute. These are two pictures of Didrre for her tribute.