In memoriam of Aisyah, our cat

April 5th 2006, yesterday, Aisyah, our beloved cat, left this world peacefully, after 10 days of sickness. We buried her with the usual ceremonies in our front yard last night. To think that her body is down there, I almost can't take it, but then I remember, it is just her body, something God lent to her, and her soul is up there now.

I believed that there is a heaven for cats. Her life must meant something, and I believe God won't create her just to be wiped into thin air. I believed that whatever she did in this world, will be rewarded in her afterlife.

Below are some things to remember about her:

1. Our family first knew her when she was hit by a car in front of our house. She obstinately rejected help, and dragged herself through our frontyard and settled herself on our front veranda. Then we brought her in, fed her, and Ocen, our late male cat, took care of her.
   
2. We named her after Power Rangers Yellow (her fur was yellow) named Aisha. And not concidentally, there was this Indonesian opera with protagonist named Aisyah (played by Kris Dayanti), who was crippled.
   
3. At first, she hated people. One of the most scratchy-clawy cat I ever saw. She wouldn't sit on laps. Only these past 2 years he became friendly with us, although she still hated other people.
   
4. She didn't like cameras, she always turned away from it, or stared sulkily to the camera.
   
5. She hated the mirror. She kept looked the other ways. I guess she had a self-confidence crisis.
   
6. She loved anything looked like balls. Papers rolled into balls was her favourite. She would attacked it with enthusiasm, and then wrecked the papers with her teeth, spat the paper bits here right and left, knocking her head to the legs of the sofa. Oh dear, now I remember that I never had the time to buy a ball for her to play with.
   
7. Her favourite food were: salted fish, fried teri, abon haruan, french fries, kaastengels, anythingwith cheese in it. She would bite you if you're late satisfying her.
   
8. She slept near my feet. And when I woke up, she would stare at me accusingly, since I kicked her a lot in my sleep.
   
9. She and my granny were enemies. But when no one was home but them, it seemed that they got along well, and Aisyah always got her dose of food at her usual time. I guess, deep in their hearts, they're best friends.
   
10. She didn't know how to take care of her children. All her children were taken care by my neighbors (poor them hehehe..)
    
11. She never peed or pooped in the house. I don't know who taught her. Maybe our late cat, Ocen. Ocen, being a male, also never did that in the house. Ocen was even smart enough to pooped in our neighbor's frontyard.
    
12. She liked to make her plate full-of-food as bait for house-lizard. She would hide behind some cupboards.
    
13. She always be the one who wake up first, after my granny. They both woke up at 3.00 AM. My granny prayed, while she bathed herself. And at 5.30 AM, she would sit in our front veranda, waiting for the newspaper man.
    
14. Somehow she thought herself as our family's bodyguard. She waited on us when we sat outside at night, watched the dark front yard in suspicion.
    
15. She loved music, especially when I played my VOS.
    
16. She loved crosswords, she used to sit on it when we filled it in every Sunday.
    
17. She also loved my mother's accounting job. She always sat on my mom's ledgers and peered on the numbers.

I can going on and on like this for gigabytes after gigabytes.
But bottom line is: she was like a family. We love her, and we hope now she is happy up there, being together again with her best friend Ocen and her children who died before her: Shiro, Hemo-Hemo, and Mio.

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