Memory Page for BamBam

by Mewsette, her daughter

BamBam
September 6, 1982 - May 6, 2002

My furmama, BamBam, went to Rainbow Bridge only a short time ago. This is my own little memorial to her. I loved her so much, and I miss her so awfully. She is with the kitty angels now, looking down on me, I know she is. She was a wonderful mother to me, and a great lady among cats. I will always remember how soft, warm and beautiful she was, how loving and wise and brave.



BamBam is a funny name for a lady cat, isn't it? I've heard stories of how she got it, but I'm not going to tell on her because that was 19 years ago. By the time I was born, she was a mature lady of 3. She had just lost my papa some weeks before when my brofurs and little sisfur and I were born. That's me in the picture of us with my head up. Except fur my sisfur, we all grew up and spent our lives with her. We lost both my brofurs long ago. I'm the last one left in our family.

My furmama and I were very close, and nearly always slept together. She would put her arm over me when we slept, and it was NOT because I scrunched up so close she had no other place to put it. See? That's her white arm around me.



She loved me and took care of me all my life. When we got older, especially the last year, I took care of her. I groomed her and I always laid by her to keep her warm. I was so blessed to have her with me all that time. There are so many memories. Some memories kind of fade when you get old, or come in little spurts. Some are too sad and strong to speak of yet.

Grieving is like a mother cat whose kittens have been given away, prowling the house and crying, looking for them. I was never a mother, but I know. That's how a cat will grieve for her furmama, too. It takes a few days to realize that she isn't coming back. Then you get a knot in your heart that hurts.

Our humans know we kitties are mortal little beings. They just never really believe it until one of us has to leave them. I guess they can't. That's because they love us so much more than can be imagined by others. That's how I love my furmama, too.



This is a poem I wrote for her last year that I want to put here.

To My Furmother

A poem for my mother BamBam, by Mewsette

I've been so lucky all of my life,
To have my furmother close to me,
Closer than husband, child or wife,
Closer than any human could be.

My papa was lost and she was grieving,
The day she gave birth to me in hiding.
Our human had searched two days, believing
My furmother must be there, abiding.

My kitten eyes opened to her loving gaze,
To her soft beauty and constant care,
And as I grew, she showed me the ways
Of being a True Cat beyond compare.

My furmother taught me to hunt and hide,
She taught me to climb in trees above,
She made me conduct myself with pride,
And most of all, she taught me to love.

For fifteen years of winters and springs,
Beyond the lives of my long-gone brothers,
I've lived so blessed in and through all things,
Lying close and warm with the best of mothers.

I feel the day coming when we must part.
My old furmother lies weak in the sun.
And these warm memories I'll hold in my heart
Forever, my mother, the closest one.