Minerva

Minerva and his brother Ezio joined our family very early on in my relationship with my girlfriend at the time of a little over a year and a half. We didn’t realize when we named Minerva that he was in fact a boy; We were quite surprised when we brought him in to get spayed and found out he was instead going to be neutered.

One of our earliest memories of Minerva is him disappearing for hours in the enormous house we were staying in shortly after bringing him home. Long story short, this tiny kitten found a terrific hiding spot under our bed and fell asleep while we were in a full-blown panic and tearing the house apart searching.

As the years drew on, that girlfriend of mine became my wife and we left that huge house and ended up in three different Florida apartments. Minerva and his brother handled moving about as well as my wife and I did- not very well- but once we got settled into our new environs, I’d like to think we were very happy.

We had a few different nicknames for Minerva, as I imagine most pet owners do. My favorite were “Nervo”, “Screamo”, and “Nerva-pie”. He earned the nickname “Screamo” because he was always the more vocal of our boys. Ezio was strong and silent- Minerva was just loud… Often. Sometimes it would get a bit much as his war-cries would reverberate in our tiny apartment; but as you can imagine, I certainly miss his incessant cries now.

One of Minerva’s favorite things in life was any blanket with a “nubby” texture to it. I suspect it reminded him of being a kitten with his mother. He would knead and knead those blankets and have not one worry in the world. Another favorite thing of his was stretchy hair-ties. He was a gentle, simple, and sensitive cat and didn’t enjoy toys that moved too quickly- the complete opposite of his wild and rambunctious brother. Simple, unmoving hair-ties were more his speed- though he did seem to enjoy chasing the ties after I would shoot them off across the room, he would often even bring them back to me so I could shoot them off again. Lastly, he thoroughly enjoyed lying next to me in bed with his back up against my side and his rear-end nearly in my armpit. I will miss these moments the most.

We used to joke that Minerva was the most unphotogenic cat in the world, and it would take at least 10 pictures to get one of him that would be acceptable- so I have tons of photos of this boy- even though half of them are blurry. He was one of those cats that was rarely ever still enough to be captured on film.

I cannot express the profound sadness I feel in my chest with Minerva’s departure from this world- it’s a crushing feeling unlike any I’ve known in my life. My wife and I will most likely never have children, so these cats are the closest we will have to kids- and it certainly feels like I’ve just lost a son.

Minerva will never be replaced and he will live in our hearts forever.