Vanished

I am heartbroken to follow up my last post back in February with the news that one of my silent partners is missing.

Hobie the cat was last seen on June 29th. As usual she was always around Daisy and I, always close by, but always keeping a "cat like" distance from the activities. She came out on the patio with Daisy and I in the evening and most likely in the night. I remember taking Daisy for a walk around 10:00 pm and then, it was bedtime. Normally, I let Daisy out one more time around 11, but I was worn out from work and so we didn't have that last time out on the patio. I can only think that if we did go out that last time, I would have found Hobie out there from the 10pm outing. She loved going out on the patio and along the edge of the lawn. She didn't like being out there with the door closed and not able to get back in, so I can only imagine her dismay when she did try to get back in.

Now Hobie has been left out before in the past ten years (3 or 4 times), but she has always been on the top of the shed or right in the yard waiting to get back in the house. The fact that she has so completely disappeared has me baffled.

I woke up Tuesday morning and almost immediately realized that my regular wake up call was not coming from Hobie. Almost every morning for the past ten years, she has been in my room when I awoke to greet me and the new day. If Daisy wasn't in bed with me, Hobie would be on top of my chest, staring intently into my face. When Daisy is around, then Hobie was along the side of my bed and meowing, so when I got up that Tuesday morning, it was strange not to have Hobie in the room, but not the first time and I fully expected to see her in the living room.

When I didn't see here downstairs, I began looking for her inside and out, and I have continued to search for her every day since.

When a pet is around you every day, you grow to expect it to be there every day, you look at certain spots in the house or the yard and expect to see that pet there doing what it has always done and I have come to realize that this is one of lifes best pleasures and comforts.

I come home from work and Hobie meets me at the door, I sit on the couch and she lays across the back of the couch right behind me, I sit at my computer here and she perches herself on the weight bench or love seat, I sit at the kitchen table to paint some miniatures and she climbs into my lap and drapes her paws over my left arm. This is what I enjoyed on a daily basis, this is what I am missing on a daily basis. I do need to add that Hobies disappearence has also caused much saddness to the boys and their girlfriends, Nicole and Jazmine.

The pleasure and comfort I got from Hobie was also shared by each of them on a daily basis.

Thankfully, I have Daisy with me for the summer. If ever there was a faithful companion, Daisy is it. Even now as I type this post, she is here with me and begging for more attention, and/or a treat. Daisy realizes that Hobie is missing and has helped me looking for Hobie, especially on the first day.

I have posted signs throughout the neighborhood, posted a notice on our community website and regularly check with my Vet and Baltimore County Shelter.

Many of my neighbors have spoken to me about Hobie and have leant me support and understanding. Many of the little kids on my block ask me about Hobie and tell me that keep looking for her. There have been several "false alarms" of Hobie sightings in the area and each one gives me a moment of hope, that she will come back to us in time.

Hope is the only thing I have right now, hope and prayers, that is.

And so, we continue our daily routines, go about living our lives and hope that one day soon, we will look at a certain place in the house and see Hobie in her typical cat pose amongst us again.

And so life goes on in Mr. Joes World.

Joe